An Extract BY Mr. bushel OF HIS LATE ABRIDGEMENT OF THE Lord Chancellor BACON'S PHILOSOPHICAL Theory in Mineral Prosecutions. Published for the Satisfaction of his Noble Friends, that importunately desired it.  
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Leach, in the Year, 1660   

 portrait of King Charles II 
Charles the 2d: by the Grace of God King of great Britain, France, & Ireland, Defender of the: faith.  HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE. G. Faithorne exc   

DREAD SOVEREIGN,  
SInce Providence hath been propitious to You, even to a miracle, and having dispelled those gross mists and mistakes which formerly Clouded You, You now begin to Shine in Your proper Sphere, beyond the lustre of your most Illustrious Predecessors; which hath drawn to You, not only the Addresses, but the Admiration of all others; lest it should be a sin in me, whose heart and actions have ever been humble and loyal to Your Royal Father, If I did not, to testify my gratitude, make early tender of such a poor Miners mite, to the recesses of Your acceptation and honour, as was first intended by the Lord Chancellor Bacon's Philosophical Theory to Eternize the memory of Your Royal Grandfather in an Heroic and pious Act, without any other countenance of Your Power, or contribution of Your Purse, than a mere virtuous patronage of this providential work of Mineral discoveries, and concealed Treasures: Be pleased therefore, Royal Sir, when Your leisure serves, to cast Your favourable Eye upon a small part of the Cabalistick way of that intended practice, here humbly presented by his menial Servant, to Your sacred Majesty; and if Your wisdom upon the perusal thereof shall approve of the same, as Your two immediate Predecessors, of ever blessed memory have done, I doubt not at all, by God's blessing, But I shall be instrumental in rendering You the greatest Prince on earth by my prosecution of my Lords Philosophical design aforesaid. And as my Lord directed me, to have no Partner, so my humble suit, to Your Majesty, is, That no Person whatsoever should share with You in the glory of this Philosophical design, or frustrate the success thereof by their self-respects, as King Henry the 7th. lost the benefit of the West-Indies by following the counsel of such as obstructed his pursuing of that great affair, which this Nation hath ever repent in vain. But fearing the multiplicity of Your more urgent occasions might not give Your Majesty time to read the whole Narrative of all proceed in that abridgement; Therefore I have thus Epitomised the Way; to which I have annexed my Lords chief Ends therein, propounded by one of the Fathers of his Solomon's House, under a continued Prosopopeia, and I have discovered withal in the close, what hath hitherto obstructed my happy progress in the same; all which that your sacred Majesty would be pleased to peruse, is the only boon that he humbly craves, who hath no other ambition, but to subscribe himself, as he is in duty bound,  
Your Majesty's Beadsman, till death, Thomas bushel.   


My Lords and Gentlemen,  
THe most probable expedient to discover and obtain the Treasures of these three Kingdoms, that hitherto have lain hid, (and which statu quo were freely granted by King james to the Lord St. Alban, towards the erecting and maintenance of that Philosophical College called his Solomon's House, described in his new Atlantis, according to that Lords Cabalistick directions, as a way more safe, certain, and innocent, than those of Necromantic Charms, Magnetic Rods, Enchanted Circles, or the corrupt aids of Avaricious men's Purses) is first to find out (if possible) such a regenerate man, as is of an humble, ingenuous, and refined Soul, a virtuous mind, and a clear intellect; so sensible of, and truly abhorring all worldly vanity, that he had rather be dissolved, than live any other way than that of penitential Devotions for sins of omission and commission, chief because they aggravated the tortures of his Saviour's Crucifixion; let his fastings be mixed with proportionable obedience and self-denial, that his fervent Prayers may ascend as incense, and his humble Addresses as an evening Sacrifice before the Mercy-Seat of that Omnipotent Deity, which inhabits Eternity, till by his indefatigable and zealous importunity he hath freely obtained one true grain of lively Faith in his Creator's Mercy, and his Redeemers Merits; and then, as in Mat. 17. ver. 20. Christ tells his foiled Disciples, such a one so fortified and accomplished with Faith, and the inseparable concomitants thereof, Hope and Charity, is not only able to command the rocky Mountains to remove themselves from their mineral Beds, that they may discover their riches for pious uses, but also to compel the stubborn and subterranean spirits (which frequently fright the industrious Miners from their innocent labours) to avoid their dismal habitations in the mineral Maeanders, and thereby facilitate their honest endeavours, which their cursed obstruction had too long made frustrate; And further, for the illustrating of God's Glory, to constrain those wretched fiends (that so frequently fright frail mortals, when they are searching for treasure) to discover all such concealments as the provident care of wellmeaning Parents (fallen into dangerous times) hath hid as a Patrimony for their surviving Children, but being suddenly taken out of this world, either by a common calamity, or by the Treachery of some false friends whom th●y trusted, were thereby prevented of all possible means for them to reveal the same; and yet who hath not he●…d, if not observed, that Providence hath so ordered the matter, that not only the Murder and Murderers have been strangely disclosed, but even some of those lapsed Angels (professed enemies to the good of mankind) have both used to haunt the places where such Treasures were hid, and also by Alarming the Issue or the Allies of the so deceased, with dreadful Noises, horrid Apparitions, and ghostly Spectrums, they have, if I may so speak, even terrified them into a kind of Sanctimony of life, and put them upon the pursuit, by Prayer, and other holy means, of such a lively Faith, and so undaunted a Resolution, that ere long they have taken heart of Grace, as we say, and with Christian courage, not only questioned, but confronted those formidable Goblins, and chased them, at least in a seeming flight, to their uncouth habitations, which (as it is probably conjectured) are the Cryptick lodgings of such hidden Treasures, or the fatal Dormitories of such unfortunate Persons, as by wilful murder, and Tragical violence being hurried hence in bloody winding-sheets, have been secretly interred by their conscious Assassinates, to prevent (what in them lay) the temporal vengeance of impartial Justice? for it cannot be constantly doubted, much less denied, by the most Atheistical Sceptic, that no sooner the same hidden Treasure is utterly lost from the knowledge of mankind, but that the spirit of delusion takes its possession; and he who is absolute Monarch of the Universe, Father of Spirits (to whom the good Angels are so many Ministers, and the evil ones are subject perforce) can command to do his will, when in his own preordinate time he is pleased to reveal his inscrutable Judgements, which so far exceed humane comprehension: yet this we know, that the Devil makes it his main business, to abuse mankind, and to prevent or destroy whatever tends to his good: and this appears, in that he is so averse and unwilling to make known such Treasures as are hid, even to his own devoted Servants, lest when they can keep them no longer, they should dedicate them to Pious uses, and so the good should in Process of time come to be partakers of them. I make no question, but Balaam, who while he lived was a notorious Sorcerer, did cordialy desire to die the death of the Righteous, and though he was willing enough to have cursed Gods Israel, to get some of Balaacks Gold, yet it is full as probable, he would have purchased some of their Prayers at his death, with the wages of unrighteousness: and give me leave to tell you, that my ever-honoured Lord (the Noblest Philosopher of his time) was wont to say often, That he believed, that such hidden Treasures, as well as those of Mineral discoveries (being freely devoted by Religious Princes, to holy and charitable uses and ends, and to none but such; and accordingly by them granted only to persons of known integrity, abhorring all self-interest, and aiming solely at the Glory of God, in promoting great designs for the public good of his Church and People) may, and will most probably be recovered by Persons so qualified, as hath been already hinted. For as God at first created all things for the lawful use of man, so whatever we find written in his Word, he hath revealed to the selfsame purpose, though he hath neither dated the time, nor yet always clearly directed the manner, but leavs us as Creatures whom he hath endued with Reason, to proceed as just occasion shall be afforded; we read in the Gospel that Christ chargeth us to seek, with a gracious Promise, That we shall find; and to seeking he annexeth knocking, with the like Promise, That it shall be opened unto us. Now who sees not that there never was more need both of industrious seeking, and of importunate knocking by honest and holy endeavours, th●n there is at this day, when the sad consequences of the ●ate Civi● war have driven so many whole families which formerly flourished, to seek their daily bread from the hands of such as had been their underlings, and to knock aloud at the Gates of such as oppressed them, to keep them from starving for want of that Alms which they were wont to distribute? Therefore I humbly conceive, in such an Article of necessity as this, any lawful course, whereby such poor Souls may be completely relieved, without any charge at all to the public, will now be most grateful and acceptable to all good men. And this very consideration hath (beyond all other motives) encouraged me in this Exigence and juncture of time, to reveal my incomparably-great Lord and Masters most reserved Cabal, for (as his strongest Obligation to my Gratitude) he would in a good mood, and in his greatest recess, privately impart to me, That the highest Perfection and Elucidations of humane ●…ason do but rove at Metaphysical Notions, and that most Philosophical speculations are both obscure and uncertain, did not Divine Contemplation rap us, with the Apostle, into the third Heaven, and beam into us a glimpse of that supernatural light, wherewith the intellectual Angels themselves are illuminated; to which he added, that the superficial discernments of Philosophy incline a man to Atheism, but the , and through-discovery of the grounds of the same, confirm him in the solid fundamentals of true Religion: for (said he) our corporeal substance is too much of kin to the brute Animals; but our Souls are so many sparks or beamlings of that eternal l●ght which is the fountain of the Sun, from whence all visible light doth stream. A d further, that had not the All wise Creator appointed a tutelar A●gel to every man, as his Guardian and Conductor, through this vale of misery, than that Arch-enemy, the Prince of this world, or some of his subordinate legionary Spirits, would deal far worse with each of us, than ever he did with Job himself; and (as an argument of his inveterate rancour and virulent policy) he more than once asserted, that this great Impostor and Spirit of delusion, hath suggested, and raised innumerable errors, and contagious Heresies, out of the different opinions of the greatest Fathers of the Primitive Church, to the end that he might thereby scandalise Religion itself, and make it seem but a stalking-horse, and to be esteemed but an umbrella for self-interest, and hypocritical Machiavilians; and he sometimes modestly intimated to me, that since I was not then fixed, and not sufficiently armed against such potent temptations, the best way I could take, both to avoid such delusions, and also to improve my Contemplations to my eternal advantage, was to retire myself from all popular parts of the world, to unfrequented solitudes, and there, after my first fruits offered in an ingenuous confession of all my sins, and unfeigned sorrow, testified in my serious endeavour to forsake them all, and wholly to resign myself to my Creator's will, which though it should conclude me a vessel of dishonour, yet like the humble clay in the hands of this great Potter, I should not dare to dispute his Decree, but that I should submissively acknowledge, that his Omnipotence cannot err in the dispensations of his Mercies, or distributions of his Justice and righteous Judgements; and that if the Almighty should recall and pardon me, and confirm me in the hopes of his undeserved mercy, and think me fit to be put again into the dispatch of any temporal affairs, which may tend to his glory and the public good, that then I should use all possible diligence to find out in the three Kingdoms, or in the whole race of mankind, such a number of men (capable of my Lord● Character) as in effect Abraham interceded for, who by their righteousness, at least in God's acceptation, might have made an atonement for condemned Sodom; and having found but a few such, that then I should not need to doubt of accomplishing all his Philosophical designs portrayed in his New Atlantis, or his Cabalistick Theory, concredited only to me in the management of the same; and he hoped by this way to reduce, in time, all Errors, Schisms, and Heresies in Religion, to the Orthodox Faith, according to the un-erring Canon of Sacred Scripture. So great an estimation, and reverend an opinion, had my great Lord and Master of the prevalent and operative sanctity of those truly humble Persons, whom he appointed as the Hermits and Hospitallers of his Solomon's House, by the Energy of whose divinely-sublimed Souls, and inspired Intellectuals, he not only supposed, but proposed, that all his Philosophical seeming miracles should take their wished effect, now far soever they transcend all that the ancient Magis, or the Royal Trismegistus himself ever effected, or but so much as aimed at in their stupendious undertake: for these are the men (said he) must evidence unto us by perspicuous and perfect demonstration, those glorious Ideas, which the divine Plato (so long before Christ's time) most learnedly discoursed of.  
Now, Courteous Reader, Let me tell you, that my great Master's modesty and confidence were alike, strange and unparallelled; for I speak it upon my own knowledge, that when his magnificent Master, King james of happy memory, offered him the whole benefit of his Mineral discoveries, together with his forfeited Estates of Capital Offenders for a considerable time, towards the erecting and maintaining of my Lords Philosophical College mentioned before, My Lord, like a right and royal Philosopher, returned his humble thanks with this Heroic Answer, That he had no ends at all upon his Majesty's Exchequer, either to drain that, or to enrich himself; but his only aim was to eternize his Majesty's Name and Fame, by doing such a glorious work as could not be effected in the Reign of any of his Royal Predecessors; and for the completing whereof, he craved no other aid and supply, but only the profits of such drowned and utterly-deserted Mineral works as his own Philosophical industry should recover, unless his Majesty would be pleased to add thereunto such supposed Treasure a Trover as the Art and Industry of all former Ages could never attain unto; and to help him herein, he desired no other Pioners, but only such penitent persons, as being convicted of petty Felonies were condemned for want of Clergy; except such Volunteers, as being convicted by their own consciences, came into the work with truely-contrite spirits, and truly-mortified affections, and were willing to vow Voluntary poverty before they were admitted: and his reason was (if my memory fail me not) That God's providence is all-sufficient to carry on with success any virtuous undertaking, where patiented industry, simple obedience, and humble self-denial, are the principal Agents, Religious men the only Surveyors, not biased by interest; their diet temperance, and the production of the whole solely dedicated to his Honour and Service. Neither would my Lord admit of any Partners or Co-adjutors in this design: But as Princes cannot endure any Competitors, and Lovers will brook no Corrivals; so it was my Lords only ambition to have no Auxiliaries that should share with him in the honour of his Philosophical discoveries, that so he might gratefully ascribe and attribute the whole invention, perfection, and emolument thereof to the Omnipotent and only-wise Architect of the Universe.  
Now all the premises being laid together, I humbly refer to your grave and serious consideration, which are more fully set down in my Abridgement of my Lord Bacon's Mineral Theory; and when to your admiration the mystic propositions therein discoursed of shall be successfully experimented, and perfected by such inconsiderable instruments, and disregarded humble ones, then what carnal reason now looks upon as impossible, I hope all sober men will acknowledge to be feasible, and be brought not only to confess, that all self-seeking worldy wisdom is foolishness with God, but also, that such matchless precedents of Gods incomprehensible mercy and bounty, have not only plausibly persuaded, but even powerfully compelled them to be cordially assisting in their several places, and to the utmost of their power, by removing all such rubs and Remoras, as do any way obstruct or retard the pursuing, and prosecuting of that, which by God's blessing, may in short time be improved to so public a benefit; and in this assurance, I Rest,  
The Humblest of your Lordship's Servants, THOMAS bushel.   

Mr. BVSHEL'S LETTER To the Right Honourable the LORD FAIRFAX Touching his Articles of War.  
Right Honourable,  
BY the enclosed Remonstrance you will discern the readiness of my industry to do my Country service, and by my Articles of War, how much your Lordship, and my Lord Say and Seal are engaged in Honour to see them ratified; and therefore I shall not need to put your Lordship in mind of more than what proceeds from your quicksighted Genius, and springs from the veins of your Noble Blood, especially when the fidelity of performance on my part (as a private Gentleman) shall be balanced and scanned by your own wisdom. For (my Lord) I held my Articles of War, made by such persons of quality, and from the Authority of Parliament, more impregnable than the strongest Garrison: And why I should be made the only Trophy of Misfortune, by being rendered thus into a Prison upon an Arrest, through my confidence's of your engagements to protect me, when (by my publ●ck Actions) the Honour of a Parliament, and your own interests are bound to make them good, I know not, neither do I see the Equity or Justice of it: For it is impossible your Lordships should conceive my judgement so weak (I having the late Kings Monitory Letter, a true Copy whereof is here under-written) when you shall consider the great Debts I have contracted for him and myself, as to part from so Tenable a place as Lundy, without my Estate restored to enable me to pay them, or my Person protected till I got the possession, but much rather have died in the place, than be exposed to a loathsome prison, by the common rigour of Bailiffs and Sergeants; unless it be decreed by the Eternal Power, that future Ages shall find on Record, there was a time when a Writ, procured by a Mechanic Fellow, did baffle an Ordinance of Parliament, impowering their General and one of the greatest Peers of the Realm to Treat with me concerning that Garrison. In a word, my Lord, solid judgements do conceive, that my Person cannot suffer more by imprisonment, than your Honours in the censure of all States for suffering it. I writ not this, my Lord, to free myself from prison, until pay the utmost farthing of any just debt I owe either for the late King, or upon my own score, if both your engaged Honours are not concerned in my Restraint, but only crave liberty to pursue those Mines which Providence hath in all probability designed to pay such patiented Creditors, Orphans, and Widows, as never laid any other action upon me than their daily Prayers: For (my Lord) the fears of not enjoying (when brought to perfection) do far transcend any doubts I have of recovering Mineral Riches out of the hardest Rocks; and since Divine bounty was pleased to confer such hidden Treasures upon a Heathen King, 
Isa. 45.3.  it were a sin of a high nature in me, that profess Christianity, to suspect a lesser success, when the Allseeing Eye well knows my designed end is no more than the love of gratitude to pursue those Philosophical Notions described in the Lord Bacon's New Atlantis, for magnifying the God of Nature in his secret works of Nature: And therefore I could wish, and humbly pray, That the Nobleness of your Spirit might be the corner stone of such a Fabric to posterity, since the Lord Chief Justice St. john's and the Lord Say have vouchsafed to approve of it for a general good.  
My Lord, these sufferings in my Reputation, Life, and Fortune, by this imprisonment, I was resolved to submit unto in a silent patience; But some of my distressed friends fearing the deep wounds in my head from that unhappy Arrest might prove to be mortal, have occasioned this my Address, upon a confident hope, that the Parliaments Wisdom will not deny a favour of such just concernment to your Lordship's Merits, and the Lord Viscount Says, if their more weighty affairs can but permit them leisure to pry into that Politic Act of State whereby Garrisons were acquired for great sums, and then it is conceived, your Lordship's care in securing Lundy Isle will redound to your greater Honour, when they shall consider that much Piracy might have been committed in that place without control, which was surrendered (through your Prudencies) without any other condition than one person to be protected until the possession of his estate were restored to satisfy the just debts of  
Your Lordship's most humble Servant, Thomas bushel. April 18. 1659.   

His Majesty's Answer to Mr. Bushel, concerning the Surrender of Lundy.  
BUSHEL,  
WE have perused thy Letter, in which We find thy care to answer the Trust We at first reposed in thee: Now since the place is inconsiderable in it sel●, and yet may be of great advantage unto you in respect of your Mines, We do hereby give you leave to use your discretion in it, with this Caution, That you take example by Ourselves, and be not over-credulous of vain promises, which hath made Us great only in Our Sufferings, and will not discharge your Debts.  
From Newcastle, 14 July 1646.   

Mr. Bushels Articles upon his Surrender of the Isle of Lundy.  
The Propositions, Articles, Conditions, Engagements, and Agreements made, concluded, and assented unto, the Tenth of September, in the year 1647. between his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax, Knight, Lord General, and the Lord Viscount Say and Seal, of the one part, and Thomas Bushel Esq; Governor of the Island of Lundy for the King's Majesty of the other part, in perfuance of several Orders of the Committee of both Kingdoms, and an Order or Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, as followeth,  
FIrst, It is agreed, that the said Mr. Bushel shall Surrender and Deliver up the said Island unto the said Lord Say, or unto such person as he shall appoint, and all Ammunition, and Magazine there.  
And that in consideration thereof, The Delinquency of the said Mr. Bushel shall be taken off, and all Sequestration in respect thereof discharged; and he the said Mr. Bushel shall be restored unto his Estate, and such right as he or his Assigns had in the Mines of Devon, Cornwall, and Wales, before these troubles; and all the persons with him in the Island, and not being persons of quality, shall be pardoned of their Delinquency, and suffered to live quietly at home, not acting any thing contrary to the Authority of Parliament.  
Secondly, that Mr. Bushel shall be protected from Arrest, until he obtain the possession of his said Estate.  
THO. FAIRFAX.   

The Lord Fairfax Letter to the Speaker of the Parliament.  
Master Speaker,  
I Cannot but be sensible of any thing that reflects on the Honour of the Parliament, as on myself, who for the●r service have granted Articles to several persons as importance of affairs required, and particularly to your Petitioner Mr. Bushel; but of late there hath been some obstruction in due execution of them, to the prejudice of such as cast themselves on your protection, which Mr. Bushel more readily did in hope of performance of those Articles made upon his surrender of the Isle of Lundy, with the Lord Say and myself on the behalf of the Parliament, than concived most reasonable as his papers herewith do express; therefore entreat, at your first opportunity, you would acquaint the Honourable House with the contents of my humble desires, which is, that they would make good Mr. Bushels Articles, and be pleased to recompense his great sufferings with their timely assistance, that he may be better enabled to satisfy his Creditors, which he cannot do but by pursuit of such Mineral discoveries as Art and Experience hath taught him, which will not only be their advantage in securing those debts, but render him more capable of doing considerable service to the Commonwealth. And in so just an Act you will preserve the Justice and Honour of the Parliament, and his, who hath ever been  
Your most humble Servant, T. Fairfax. Bath, 29 July, 1659.   

To the Right Honourable WILLIAM LENTHAL Speaker to the PARLIAMENT.  
Right Honourable,  
MY old Master the Lord Chancellor Bacon would often say, That the magnificence of a Parliament consisted much in the presence of their Prince and; that the reflection of his Royal Affection was as a foil to render them as Diamonds of greater value in their Country's service, If those natural flaws of Self-interest were not frequently known to become a motive to make them forfeit their Trust, and subvert their Obedience, which invited that Lord's observation to reflect upon such a Model of new Laws, as no forced power should be able to take away the Regality of Sovereign Rights, nor their Prerogative have a Medium to entrench upon the privilege of their Subjects; and that his Philosophy should be the sole revenue to support the Magis of so magnificent a Machine, without any other imposition on the people, than its attendance upon Providence; and to change the temper of lose and avaricious minds into Moral and Divine virtues: But that Lord being commanded by King James, to write the life of Henry the seventh, and his great employments in State affairs, were the divertisements which retarded his inclination to that study, and left only the Essay of his Mineral Philosophy to support his Solomon's House, described in his New Atlantis, as a rest whereby the success of his other experiments might be judged. And now most Honoured Sir, you having received the Lord Fairfax his Letter to the Parliament, in answer of mine, touching the making good my Articles, as also to recompense my great sufferings, hath made me so presume on your Lordship, as to beseech you to patronise this publication of my proceed, and the rather, for that I perceive by the weekly Occurrence, Your Honour hath sent a Letter of thanks to the Lord Fairfax, in the Name of the whole House, for his late opportune service done to the Honourable Parliamenr, which hath emboldened me the more to put your Honour in mind of a result of the said Lords Letter directed to yourself, and dated the 29 of July last, lest the interpretation of your Honour's Letter should be held in the Diary of a Compliment, when the Lord Fairfax his Letter is laid aside, which concerns his and the Parliaments Honour to make good; and because his Lordship did me the favour to send me a true Copy of what was writ, I have made bold humbly to present you with the grounds and reasons at large, which induced him to it, that the Parliaments wisdom might take a more present care of the whole matter, rather than the glory of such a work should perish for want of a right understanding. And if it may seem to any Person of that Honourable House, too great a favour for me to have my Articles made good, I shall humbly pray no more, than that their Justice may protect my Mineral adventures at Rowpits upon the Forest of Mendip, and other deserted places, and to defend my Feoffees in trust, who have resolved to make a true trial of my Lord's Philosophy in that affair, since most Men reputed me not well in my wits, for attempting the seeming impossibility of recovering their drowned conditions, otherwise those public spirits will doubtless inevitably suffer. From whence God lead your Lordship by the hand, and all others that will take the pains to read the ensuing Treatise, for then my Genius invites me to believe, I shall have their unanimons consent to an irrevocable Act like the Medes and Persians, which is and shall be the Prayer of  
Your most Humble Servant Tho. Bushel.   

Right Honourable,  
GRatitude having obliged my Soul to serve such a surviving Friend, as your Lordship hath ever been to the memory of my Lord Bacon's Philosophy, and now finding general fame to give out, that the vicissitude of State Affairs are become dubious ever since the French Embassy, and other  occurrences were made public, I held it my duty to tender the conception of your humble Servant, how to manage a safe retreat for your Lordship's perpetual Honour, which is in a word (my Lord) to get the start of some men's understand compliance, by casting the faculties of your divine part upon the Heroic nature of your Prince's clemency, and with the same sense of your Lordship's unparallelled language, in the public Senate, to lead the judicious to the like obedience, rather, than the effusion of more b●ood should be spilt by the dangerous consequence of a foreign Invasion, and then it were impossible, if such an Act of gallantry proceeding from those pious Principles, might spring from your Lordship's undaunted Spirit, but that it must meet with the splendour of a Prince's favour and mercy in their greatest glory. I writ not this (my Lord) from my own head, but that I have often heard my Lord Bacon discourse the like upon the same Subject, and that the way to out-vi●… Prince's rage in hi● conceived wrong, by a politic prud nce, was to blunt the edge of his revengeful Sword with such an opportune submission, as might add to his greater Honour, in pardoning the crime, than punishing the offence, and especially when his Conscience must bear him witness, he is restored to three Kingdoms, by such a stratagem from the wisdom of your Lordship's, and might in time by the same scales know the persons that betrayed his Cabinet Counsels, which were a work without compare, and as miraculous as meritorious before God and Man; for (my Lord) his Royal Father would frequently aver, that it was below his nature to take revenge upon an open Enemy; but th' see which betrayed the secrets of his trust, he could not tell what to say in the punishment of them (unless God should direct his heart) but must leave such to the stroke of divine justice. In a word (my Lord) I have nothing to do with Court-holy-water, nor State Policy, but through Providence and your Honour's assistance to Crown my old Master the Lord Viscount Verulam, King of Philosophy, for his unparallelled knowledge in Mineral discoveries, and to support thereby the magnificent Monument of his Atlantis, above those that endeavour to lay his Honour in the dust, without the participant purse of any person, than the breath of such Senators as should proceed from your Lordship's abilities, and therefore I shall humbly beg pardon for this bold Address, and remain (as obliged)  
Your Lordships ever devoted Servant Thomas bushel.   

Mr. Bushel's Mineral Overtures.  
Right Honourable,  
ACcording to your commands, I do here present your Lordships with a brief Narrative of the Lord Chancellor BACON'S directions to myself, for the management of his Mineral experiments, in case his own Death should stop his intended progress therein, before he could practically discover the true generation, and spreading qualities of Minerals, I being then his Menial Servant.  
King JAMES having already promised to grant his Lordship all his own discoveries of Mines Royal, and also of any drowned Lands, or deserted works, by him to be recovered within the space of Forty years, paying him the fifth, according to the usual custom of the King of Spain, in his Mines of the West-Indies, and of other Princes, after the expiration of fourteen years first granted gratis towards the great ●arge of his new Invention, to facilitate the obtaining the Mineral Riches of this Land, occasioned by a learned Speech his Lordship hath lately made to his Majesty, [Count GUNDAMORE, and divers of the Nobility being present, concerning the rise, and magnificent growth of the China Trade; wherein by a perfect demonstration he made it appear, that the invention of one man (by his helping the Defects of Nature, with the Materials of Art, and the patience of three Ages industry to bring its concoction to perfection) became the great Revenue of that Empire, and hath been for this thousand years the only honour of that people, as well as their livelihood and Patrimony] In which he seriously protested, That his utmost ambition in the affairs of this world affected no greater glory, than to leave the real fruits of his best service to his Sovereign, Honour to his Name, his written Works to Posterity, and by such Treasures as his own Industry should raise out of his Mineral experiments, to accomplish the noble Design and Fabric of his SOLOMON'S House, described in his new Atlantis, annexed to his Natural History; seeing that the Corporation of the Mines Royal, institute● by his Majesty, consisting of Lords and Gentlemen of quality, produced but w●ak, or very small advantages to the Revenue of the Crown, or the public good; although his Lordship did then really believe it very possible for himself (if qualified thereto by his R●gal Power) to b●ing it so to pass in one Age, that the barrenest Mountains in this N●tion should produce such store of Treasure by their Royal v●ins, as we need not envy the King of Spain's felicity in his Potozi, or any other Mines in America; & thereupon by way of similitude added this, That as a State whose present dimensions were but small, might happily serve as a foundation for an ample Monarch, if all regard of private propriety were laid aside, and every Member thereof would diligently devote his particular care to the public benefit; even so it might happen in the advancement of the discoveries of those Mineral Riches supposed to lie hid in the bosoms of the most barren Mountains, when the whole industry of the many several persons employed, should be concentric in that service, and act as the united faculties of one man, their hearts being free from all ends and ambitious thoughts, save such as conduced to God's glory and the Common good. But so soon as his Lordship had vouchsafed to acquaint me concerning his proceed with his Majesty in thi● Affair, he bade me call to mind the many fatherly favours which he had conferred upon me, as pious motives to retard my unripe years from hazardous travels; and having professed to his Lordship, that I could not with any content resolve to live in my Native Country, ever since I understood, that younger Brothers by the Law of the Land were not participant in their Father's Inheritance, but that they were by the ways of Virtue and Industry, to attend the Almighty's bounty, for acquiring such fortunes as primogeniture had conferred upon their elder Brothers, or otherwise to live in an inferior or servile condition; and then instanced his acceptance of me for his Servant at fifteen y●ars of age, upon my own Address; his clearing all my debts three several times, with no smaller sum in the whole than three thousand pound; his preferring me in Marriage to a rich Inheretrix, and thereupon not only allowing me four hundred pounds per annum, but to balance the consent of her Father in the Match, promised upon his honour to make me the Heir of his knowledge, in Mineral Philosophy, saying, That if th●se real expressions of his love could but find the due retaliation of my gratitude, he might then assure himself of the hoped Harvest of two lives t● one, inferring, that although Fathers are bound to provide for their Children, and worse than Infidels if they do not, yet there is no such injunction upon Masters, in relation to their Servants; and therefore where a Masters pious bounty transcends a Father's natural love, there that so obliged servant must appear most prodigiously ingrateful, which shall not with much zeal and faithfulness, discharge the duty of a surviving Trust; seriously adding this: Bushel, I must now use you, my intended Instrument, in the prosecution of my Mineral Designs, as Politic Princes do their nearest Servants in their Cabinet Counsels; who putting their Master's conceptions into act, if they take well with the people, must own no more of them than the approbation thereof, and the admiration of their Prince's wisdom therein; but in the contrary effect (to salve their Prince's honour) they must sadly acknowledge the matter wholly their own; an Error in their Cou●s●ls, and a crime in themselves: So you, if by my Theory you prosper in your practic, must attribu●… all the honour of the whole work to me; If oath wise, you must gratefully preserve my reputation, by acknowledging your own misfortune, in mistaking and misacting my directions and so you shall be sure to gain the Title and Character of a grateful Servant in ei●her event. And upon my serious ●rotesta ion, that I would faithfully obey all his Commands, his Lordship advised me, not to follow the practice of our Predecessors, in their tedious and expensive ways of sinking Airy shafts at every forty fathoms, nor to imitate the ancient Romans, by di●ging Mines through deep and open Trenches; but by cutting Addits' into the Mountains at their lowest Level, and by supplying their defect of Air with Pipe and bellows, being an invention utterly unknown to former Age's; And for my first experience, to begin with those five Mountains in Cardiganshire, reported by Sir FRANCIS GODOLPHIN, and a Portuguese, to be rich in Silver and Lead. But if I should by my practic part fail in my deeper search, either for want of convenient Air, or a sufficient Vein of Ore, his Lordship commanded me to pursue his directions in that particular no further; yet if my happy success should prove his Theory true in this, as also in the several ways of separating the Metal from the Dross, and the Silver from the Lead, that then I should not fail to illustrate the innocent Trade of the poor Miners, by making his Lordship the Patron of their Profession, nor neglect to dedicate the whole profit which Divine Providence should reveal in the one, to find out the Riches of the other, and above all, that I should take special care to elect such honest Agents for the carrying on this innocently profitable work, as their virtuous ambitions should aim at no by respect beyond the public good of their Country, they having a competent salary for their modest maintenance: But these Embryos proving abortive, by the death of that Lord in the Reign of King james, were the sad motive which persuaded my pensive retirements to a three years' solitude, until divine providence calling me to a more active life, I discovered and perfected Natures ingenuous designs upon my Rock at Enston in Oxfordshire, by making it such a delightful Grotto, that the same of it invited the late King Charles to a volunrary visit: By which means I not only became known to his Majesty, but also found an apt occasion to discourse the  Proposals of the Lord BACON'S Philosophy, who so well approved of my Ingeny upon that place, and his Lordship's Mineral Model, that he presently promised me the assistance of his Mint, according to the precedent of other Princes, when I should find silver worth the coining; and likewise the accommodation of my own Lead so discovered, Custom-free for 21 years, as also my choice of renting the whole Custom of that Commodity at the rate of t●e Farmer's Books, calculated by the account of seven years' Audit, to put the speculations of my Master's Theory into practice. These high favours of the late King conferred on myself, in memory of that Lords eminent abilities, and this his admonition (before the Earl of Dorset) to me at York: That if (in the War then like to ensue) I should not prove real, and active in his service, and cordial in the trust reposed in me by my quondam Lord, I should justly merit the Title and reputation of a Knave; which did then provoke me forwards in my undertake, with a most zealous observation of my obliged fidelity to both, till his Majesty (at Causam) disengaged me in the first, that he might enable me as much as in him lay, to perform the latter, by his gracious letter of permission to surrender Lundy, at my own charge fortified and maintained, (without injury or violence to any) upon such Articles as might take off my delinquency, and restore me to my Estate, and the grants of my Mines, Mints, and Customs, rather than the forementioned design so well digested by my honourable Lord, for the general good, should be made fustrate by my incapacity to prosecute; I being the only man made privy to all those his Mineral speculations, and some other of his Philosophical Lucubrations, not yet to be promulged, until my proficiency and success in the Mines shall enable me thereto; since he, in the depth of his wisdom, thought it not only the harmlessest gain, and greatest good that could befall a Commonwealth, but also found it to be the chiefest study and industry of the most knowing and best bred persons of other Nations, and the highest and most honourable improvement that this world was capable of; and I protest, as in the presence of God (such a progress I have already made herein) that if I could now command as much wealth as ever the Lydian Croesus did possess, I would gladly adventure it all in perforating the barren Mountains, to discover the vast Treasures which lie hid in their Rocky entrails, for the good of this Nation, and to leave, after my debts paid, a magnificent Monument in memory of my most deserving Master, by finishing his solomon's House in all its dimensions, and with all the accommodations and endowments thereof, according to his Lordships own Heroic Idea, If the honourable Parliament shall be pleased to ratify my Articles, I having already by his direction cut through five of the 28 Mountains at the lowest Level, which his Lordship and Sir FRANCIS GODOLPHIN did mark out as the most pregnant Hills, for discovering the Beds, and spreading Branches of this Nation's Mineral Treasures: so that no man of known judgement, but must conclude the rest to be of the same species, or of richer natures, in their deeper search, both for quantity and quality; and how happy a success the great God of Nature hath given to my endeavours in this particular, the ensuing Letter sent from Mr. Brodway, a learned and judicious Divine, and one constantly resident amongst the Miners, will better speak, than any Pen whatsoever.  
THOMAS BUSHEL.   

A Letter to Mr. Bushel, relating some strange Accidents, which happened in the Mines.  
Honoured Sir,  
SUffer my congratulations of your late success at Tallybont to be admitted among the rest, who represented the same to your imagination, not so much for the historical report of it, as for speculation on it; So it becomes my quality, for the rest are interessed, I, a looker on▪ Your Addit or great drift of Tallybont, after above 400 fathom in four years driving to come at the chief ●…ast of the old drowned work of 38 fathom deep, being pierced by the water of the old work, June 27. at midnight there bef●l two memorable accidents, The four workmen about one in the night (a● their manner was) withdrew to take Tobacco within ten fathom of the Addits' mouth, lest in the fore-field it should damp the air, which was co●ve●ed to them by your leaden Pipes with bellows. Their smoky banquet was not yet at an end, when they heard a mighty and fearful noise, which some of them said was thunder. But old Bartholomew Clocker (a well experienced Miner although he left the work without any suspicion of so near an approach, resolved suddenly the work is hole, come let us away. No soo●er had they gotten the free air, but out gusheth the torrent of water with an incredible fury, such a breach it made in the solid Rock, that it arose a full yards height at the Addits' mouth, and drove away above a hundred Tun of the rocky deads', affrighting the people of Tallybont, who heard the noise and felt the water in their houses. I do not remember that I was ever more astonished at the prodigiousness of any spectacle, to see what perdition was threatened to the poor men, and they so to escape it. About four hours after, the violence of water being past, Fisher one other of the Miners went in, with more curiosity than wit, to see what effect it had wrought there: and being some sixty fathom in, creeping very low, his candle enkindled a vapour, which came on him with three or four flashes, and he suddenly returning, had his hair burnt off, and his clothes scorched, in which conclusion it gave a crack like the report of a Piece, and in a fierce gust of wind blew out the Candles of three more coming after him. To omit the Philosophical inquisition of natural causes, I account his preservation in as high a degree of wonder as the first, Thus happy are you here when least you think of it, for I find the Subterranean spirits, the supposed Guardians of concealed treasure, as officious for you as if they were in pay with you. But in a st●le more proper to my pen, Behold Sir, how dear you are to Providence, which for your sake hath vouchsafed to digress into a Miracle, and such a one a is able to convert the most Sophistical Atheist; whence your piety will infer, that the gracious Author of this incomparable bounty expects from you some grateful service, as high above ordinary, according to mortal capacity, as this favour hath been extraordinary We are all deeply in the same engagement, and have learned by this experiment, that these Addits' or approaches (for that's the sense of the name of old Deluge works) are attempts of desperate hazard. Me thinks those Mountain's a e as so many pregnant Wombs, and now in labour call for your fortunate hands to deliver them, to the honour of your Royal Master, and perpetuated glory of the Nation.  
What should you doubt in an employment so serenely smiled upon, by the highest both of Heaven and Earth? You use no enchantment, or magnetical Rod, to discover the veins, your only Magic is an ingenious conjecture of Probabilities, with a cheerful and indefatigable Industry, which hath hitherto succeeded beyond Expectation of most, and (peradventure) the Desires of some. But who (as Agricola makes the question) 
Lib. 1. de R. M.  that is not of a nature empoisoned with envy and malitiousness, can bear unfriendly thoughts to him, whose substance is in a manner presented by the hand of God?  
I know it would be a motive of very feeble operation, to tell you how Princes and States have raised their Crowns, by descending into such abysses as these; with some of whom wanton Antiquity hath been pleased to sport herself, and to play upon the simplicity of many, as Midas, Gyges', the Argonauts, Croesus, with the States of Athens, over whose Minerals was that renowned Thucydides a Praefect, as you are here. Of which, Pliny delivers what may be worth your attention, when he says of them, That they were in a fruitless soil, and on the Hills (as these with us) And wheresoever one vein was found, it was not far from another; among which was one called Bebelo, that afforded him 300 pound weight of Silver a day.  
These were then the veins which conveyed the blood and spirit of life, through all the Limbs of his victorious Host. And have you not here our Britan's Asturia before you? Who knows whether it may not yield a Bebelo? at least a Sneberg or Anneberg? Who hath heretofore dreamt of a Mine at Comsom●och, or of the happy Lot you lately drew from the Mountains of Kegmian, Tallybont, the Darren, Broom-Floyd, and Cum-mervin? What did the outside of these promise you, more than the countenances of their Neighbours? But the Complaint of learned D. Jourdan may here take place, that much Silver was lost, for want of taking it out of Lead-Oares: for whereas those Oars which are rich in Silver, are commonly hard ●ff●sion, our Mineral men neglect those Oars. No doubt many are concealed, by reason they are Mines Royal.  
Where had been the Woods and Forests yet undestroyed on these bald-headed Promontories, that might suffice, had you not taught the Earth to afford you all, and the Valley to meet the barren Hill, by sending in Fuel to give form to the matter? So that here is a rich bequest you leave to posterity, I mean your eternising the Works, by preventing the excess of Water, and defect of Fire. I have no more but to signify my confidence, that as your desires are set on the material Rocks of Wales and Enstone, so will your better affections be firmly grounded upon the Rock Christ Jesus, that no Tempest may be able to shake you, when the sandy Projects of other will be laved to nothing by the Floods they are built upon: which will give more comfort and satisfaction to you, than can be expressed by your  
True Friend and Servant, THOMAS BRODWAY. Julii 4. 1641.   

A Table setting forth the manner of that great Philosopher the Lord Chancellor Bacon's searching for Metals by making Addits' thorough the lowest Level of Hills or Mountains, and conveying Air into the innermost parts of their Centre by Pipe and Bellows; as well as by Art to mollify the hardest Stone, without the tedious way and inestimable charge of sinking Airy Shafts; and is now intended to be put in practice by his Menial Servant Thomas Bushel, on Hingston-Down, and other places, according to his Lordship's command, and the approbation of that great Mineralist Sir Francis Godolphin.  
 diagram of mine drainage, showing adits, pipes and bellows  

FIrst, the true description of Hingston down, lieth in Longitude East and West five Miles, with Millions of Shafts that have been visibly Sunk upon several Loads of Metal, by the Romans, Danes, Saxons, Jews, and Britan's; And is in breadth 700 Fathom at the Basis lying North and South, as well as in depth 200 Fathom from the Beacon Perpendicular to the Centre of that Addit now intended.   

The reasons why I undertake a work of this nature, and in these parts, is as followeth,  
FIrst, a grateful Ambition to answer his Highness Heroick trust reposed in me to discover this Nation's Mineral Treasure.  
Secondly, my obliged fidelity to my Lord Chancellor Bacon, to practise this his Philosophical invention, for the general good; and in particular to give new birth to the drooping conditions of my fellow Pupils, the poor Miners drowned and deserted works.  
Thirdly, my Cordial desire to serve these Western parts with the benefit of so useful a precedent, I having already practised the same in Wales, and found the fruitful effects thereof.   

Secondly, the reasons why I begin my Addit or Aqueducts from Small-Coom and Hook Coomes, to meet underneath the Beacon at the aforesaid Centre, is,  
FIrst, for that by mine own experience, I found not any of our Predecessors to search lower than 40 Fathom; So that I am confidently assured, that cutting North and South thorough the aforesaid 700 Fa●…om, I shall command all the Loads, Rakes, an● Veins o● Metal in that Hill; and how probable then it may be to discover another Indies out of the drowned and deserted works of our Nation, by this example, I sha●l leave to the rational Judgements of them who are practitioners in those affairs; Especially whether these mine endeavours will not give much hopes to verify the old Proverb, Hingston-Down well wrought, is worth London Town dearly bought. For if the riches of those Groves in 40 Fathom sinking, hath occasioned the aforesaid Proverb, as well as the inundation of water hath caused them to desert from their Mineral profit, it cannot be denied by common sense, or rules of reason, this Addit undermining most of the said works 150 Fathom, and then ascending up into their several loads of Metal, to drain the waters in their old Groves, but that it carries the fairest encouragement of probable conjecture to make good the true riches of the old Proverb of Hingston-Down, in this age of ours.   

The Reason why I use Pipe and Bellows, is,  
FIrst, To convey Air into the innermost part of my Addit without the sinking of Airy shafts, and preventing the vast expense and tediousness of time, which caused our Forefathers being ignorant of this invention, to leave such supposed riches of hidden Treasure to us their posterity.   

The Reason why I make my Addit or Aqueducts open 150 Fathom at each end, is,  
FIrst, To facilitate the dispatch of 300 Fathom of the 700 the first year, by the reason of the multitude of hands that may be set on work, which will not be admitted if close, and likewise it being the shallowest place of the Hill, it will require but the same expense.  
Secondly, That the close Addit may be but in length 400 Fathom of the 700. and to shorten likewise the drift of the same in point of time, I begin my Addits' at each end of my open Trench, as Counterdrifts to meet each other; And so consequently the whole will be dispatched in half the time; And therefore you may rest assured, that I have so maturely calculated the ways and means, not only of this great work at Hingston-down, but also of that of Goom-Martin in Devon, Guinop in Cornwall, and Mendyp in Summerset, that I doubt not, but in four years to set a period to all expectations, if God permit, and I have the honour of your well wishes.   

The Reason why I do not willingly desire any Partner, but Providence, in this great enterprise, is,  
FIrst, Because I have had already the experience of some Partners, and found the fruits of Providence to assist me more when they did ever decline the Mineral design, than when I had compliance with their several Purses, which made me call to mind his Lordship's frequent observation, that many Partners in the public Acts of Mineral adventures, where greediness of gain had more rule in their hearts, than to illustrate the Creator's glory, became usually the sad Elogiae of misfortune, and disencouragement to others. Besides, one tenth part must be solely dedicated to prosecute the like works in the other 20 Mountains marked out by the aforesaid Lord, & that great Mineralist Sir Fran. Godolphin, who both subscribed it under their hands, to be the most harmless gain, and greatest good to a Commonwealth, the choicest study and endeavours of the best bred persons in other Nations, and the most Honourable Employment this world was capable of.  
Lastly, Because I conceive all Mines were created for Man's use, and God's glory, but in what age to be revealed, or by whom, is only known to the Searcher of all hearts, who can best judge of mine, and my designed ends.  
And what person then of an ingenuous spirit that is not empoisoned with envy, will bear unfriendly thoughts to those that search after such subterranean Treasure at their own charge, for the good and honour of their native Country, and which in a manner is presented unto them by the hands of God?    

May it please your Lordships,  
WE in all humbleness make bold to certify your Honours, that Mr. Bushels way of Mineral proceed to undermine the waters of drowned and deserted Works, is, as we humbly conceive, of such high concernment for the honour and profit of this Nation, as we confidently believe, before our Lady day next, he will crown his labours with store of hidden Treasure out of the Works now in Rowpits, and be enabled, though at present poor in purse, to put on all his others Works of the West, without any Partnership, but Providence to assist his Industry, for the service of his Country in those particulars.  


Valent. Trim Steward of Chewton Liberty wherein Rowpits is.  
Alexander Jet.  
Christ. Wright.  
Ja. Middleham.  
Rob. Hill.  
John Ford.  
Ralph Conyers.  
Hen. Baron.  
Valent. Powel.  
Tho. Nixton.  
Rich. Friar, signior.  
Rich. Friar, junior.  
Robert Hole.  
Richard Vigour.  
Wil Smith, Mayor.  
Tho. White, Recorder  
Tho. Salmon, Justice.  
William W●lrond.  
George Bampsield.  
Tho. Coward.  
Wil Morgan, Esquires     

Mr. Bushels Petition to the late King. To the KING'S most excellent Majesty, The Humble Petition of THOMAS BUSHEL your Majesty's Servant,  
Most humbly showeth,  
THat whereas your Royal Father of ever blessed memory, who was truly styled the King of Peace, and mirror of Mercy to the sparing of life & blood, was graciously pleased, for saving the lives of such malefactors as were condemned to death by the Law for Petty Felonies, being such as were not any scandal to the Church or State, nor had embrued their hands in blood, to admit their transportation to the East-India and Virginia Companies, for furtherance of their Plantations. In which action, doubtless, H● did also cast his eyes upon the warrantable proceed and precedents of other most famous Princes in the like kind, as the late Queen Elizabeth, who built certain Galleys of purpose for employment of such kind of offenders, of strong and able bodies, as might attend her memorable designs at Sea, especially upon all sudden and resolute erterprises, it being the usual course of other Christian Princes, as the King of Spain, both for the supply of his Galleys against the Turks and Moors, and especially for the enlargement of his Indian Mines of Gold, Silver, Quicksilver, and the like, and his conquests of Morocco, Goa, Ormus, and other rich and populous Islands; The King of France for h●s Galleys at Marseilles, The State of Venice, The Duke of Florence, who by such kind of saved Offenders built Ligorn (one of the most famous Seaports within the straits.) In all which States and Services, divers of these Malefactors, by good encouragements, have sought, not so much by surviving, as by their incredible labours, eff cting matters otherwise held invincible, to obliturate their former ignominies by merit of rewards. And whereas in this your Majesty's populous Kingdom, too many such offenders are most untimely cut off in their best abilities of service, so is there within the pale of this your Kingdom, and without any occasion of Sea, or foreign service, means of employment for such persons, to redeem their lost reputation, by endeavouring to do faithful service for their Country's honour, and the Kingdoms good, in that happy work begun by Your Sacred Majesty, for the better discovery of Your Silver Mines. His most humble suit therefore is, that You would be pleased out of all these weighty considerations and beneficial consequences, tending so much to your Honour, Crown, and Dignity, and good of the Commonwealth, to grant Your Majesty's Commission, (if it may be thought fit by the advice of Your High and Honourable Court of Parliament) for the choosing of such several persons out of the Prisons of this Your Kingdom, as are, and shall be condemned for small offences, and of able serviceable bodies, by the approbation of Your Judges, and shall implore Your Majesty's mercy, to be employed by Your said Subject in the Works of Your Mines-Royal, they giving security for their good behaviour, with such limitation of time, and allowance for their sustentation, as to Your Majesties said High Court of Parliament shall be thought fit, that by their dutiful and laborious performance therein, they may afterwards come into the happiness of Your Majesty's pardon of Grace for their former offences,  
And Your Petitioner shall ever rest, etc.   

The Speech of the late Bishop of Worcester (near his death) to Mr. Bushel, concerning the two rich Mines by him discovered.  
Mr. Bushel,  
YOur own eyes see how near I am to the dwelling of death, by my grey hairs which are the true Records of fourscore and fourteen years of age, next my limbs, which have no more strength, than those that are lapped in the Sepulchre of their winding sheet, only my Intellectual parts are yet preserved, to ascribe God the glory, and to disclose the secrets of two rich Mines, the one holding some quantity of Gold worth the extracting, the other in Silver worth the Refining, to your trust and fidelity, with a confidence that your charity cannot conceive me guilty of betraying your judgement with an imaginary treasure, when my Soul and Body are so near the approach of death, as I must suddenly give an account in the other World; besides, I have taken upon me the calling of a spiritual profession, and have this day received the Sacrament, as a pledge of my redemption, which I trust are sufficient motives, to believe truth from a dying man's tongue, who hath no other end, than that the hopefulness of such riches, may not be buried by my dissolution, but that the honour and profit thereof might redound to his Majesty, and his Royal posterity, as a living and loyal remembrance of his Princely favours to me and mine.   

Mr. Bushel's Invitation by Letter to Condemned men for Petty-Felonies, to work in the Mines of their own Country, rather than be banished to Slavery in Foreign parts.  
FEllow-sufferers in restraint, although upon different accounts, for you have sought death by the errors of your lives, I an Imprisonment by a licentious Prodigality; But I hope your Consciences (like faithful Mirrors) have presented to the eye of your afflicted souls the deformities of your several Crimes, as mine hath to my serious consideration my manifold transgressions: We have no City of refuge in these our sad perplexities; the impartial doom of our Laws hath banished you from the Land of the living, unless its mercy exile you from the Land of your nativity by a ten years' absence to a sordid slavery in some torrid Island, whose Climate, Air, Diet, and manner of labour will prove very irksome unto you; But the implacable revenge of some of my Creditors doth endeavour to bury me alive in this house of woe, when (God knows) I was plunged in my Mineral inundations with care and pains to pay them their just debts by the help of Providence.  
But, dear Brethren, Friends, and Companions in Bonds, to assure you that I commiserate your deplorable condition more than mine own, I would present you with a more solacious Cordial than that of society in your miseries, which I have humbly petitioned the Honourable Parliament for, and hope I shall obtain to your temporal and eternal advantage. You are therefore first to understand, that when our English Aristotle, Nature's best modern Secretary, that excellent Philosopher the Lord Chancellor BACON, my ever-honoured Master, had completed his now extant Natural History of Philosophical Experiments, he then modelled his Solomon's House in his New Atlantis thereto annexed, in which Academy they might be practised, But not by those common ways (as he was used to say) where even Fools might raise a Pyramid, Colossus, or Mausoleum to their ridiculous memories, Viz. from the Exchequers of bounteous and magnificent Princes, Piratic depredations, or Monopolous exactions from an opulent people; but rather by a Philosophical Elixir and Chemical extraction, so acquaint and admirable, that it seems to convince the Maxim, Out of nothing is made nothing. For he proposed no other means to erect and maintain that stupendious Fabric and the Magis thereof, who were by him designed thereto by his Theory, than the recovery of the Lost by the help of the Dead. Resolve the Riddle, and find your Cordial; for though it be truly Magical, 'tis not Necromantic.  
But not to delay you, I (as your Oedipus) thus open it: The Lost, are drowned and desperately deserted Mineral Works; the Dead, convicted and attainted persons, who are indeed so in Law; and what is lost, is not in nature as to the use and propriety of mankind. Cheer up my Comrades, I have opened my dark lantern to you, and light is comfortable to the benighted. Now know, that that excellent Lord affecting my homebred simplicity, and being ambitious to raise a Younger brothers fortunes by such Experiments, instituted me as his much-favored Pupil in his mysterious Philosophical way of recovering and searching Mines, by mollifying their hardest Rocks, undermining their Waters, separating their Metals, and carrying Air through the lowest levels of Hills or Mountains, without the vastness of former charge to sink Shafts for Air every twenty Fathom. But he suddenly falling from an eminent height, as I by that time had deviated from his grave directions in the secure Paths of Virtue, imposed on me a new task, Which was, not to search the Rocky bosoms of the barren Mountains, but, by a timely retirement to some solitary place where I might seclude myself from the treacherous vanities of the tumultuous world, to explore the deceitful Meanders of my stony Heart, and when Divine grace should have assisted my better Reason in overcoming the rebellious affections of my Sensual appetite, if then the like Providence should call me thence to a more active life in the prosecution of his Mineral documents, I should without any regret of my former penance attend the good hand of God in that design with humble patience; assuredly believing, that since he had supported me in the conquest of myself, he would conduct me through all difficulties, to the accomplishing so great a work for my Country's good, and his own glory. And according to his counsel and prediction, after I had lived three years as a Recluse in a desolate Island in the Irish Seas, only conversing with God in my repentant tears, prayers and contemplations, he miraculously called me thence to an unexpected fortune, brought me into favour with my Prince, who granted me a Patent for all the Mines Royal, in order to my Lords Proposals, and a Branch of his Royal Mint to coin such Silver as I should extract from all Lead of my own finding; which was not a little, witness the many great services I did for that King therewith, notwithstanding my great losses in the late Wars. But as the Times, so we in them are changed.  
Now here to prevent any that may ask, Why since by my Articles of War I am to be restored to all my former rights, I seek no more from the present State, than an assurance of the deserted Mines of our Territories? I answer, That they will be enough, which is better than more: that then I was no way obnoxious to that government, but in my Sovereign's favour, and he in Peace, now these States look upon me as a pardoned and reconciled Enemy, and their vast expense in the Republic service, permits Delinquents no such allowance, therefore I modestly ask the crumbs which they scorn to gather up, and therewith doubt not to perform my undertake, to the honour of my Country, and my Master's memory. But me thinks I hear our proud first Enemy (that envious spirit of delusion) whisper to some of you, What will your condition of slavery be better here in your native Mines, than in a Foreign Plantation, where your friends cannot see your sufferings, nor you their prosperities, to their or your afflictions, because they cannot mitigate yours, nor you participate of theirs, which will be no small abatement to your shames, and their sorrows? To this I reply, That as the innocence of the sufferer, not the rigour of the torment makes one a Martyr, so the cause of shame is in the act of the Crime, not in the nature of the Servitude; wheresoever to be suffered; your guilt is known, and accompanies you every where; is it not then better here to expiate it where a safer and easier means is offered, if you intent to lead a new life? Consider the tediousness and dangers of your transportations, through Storms, Enemies, and a sparing salt diet: If you Land safely, 'tis but to be sold like Beasts, and most likely to men of barbarous souls, through whose cruelty you shall gasp out your dolorous lives with excessive labours, and when Hunger shall call for nature's recruits, be forced to think the worst employed horses of your own Country happier than yourselves in their natural food; and after all this, if you can outlive your bondage in enriching your taskmasters, the Spaniard for revenge or avarice may surprise your completed Plantations, and carry you away to consume the sad remnant of your miserable days in his Mines, without merit, expiation or hope: but thus you cannot suffer at home, where you may turn your necessities into virtues by a patiented and humble submission to Gods will, for all evil of punishment is from him. I propose not this to you as Mineral Pioners out of any design of advantage to myself, your food, clothes, and materials, will cost me as much as the hired expert Miners; my plot upon you is the only salvation of your souls, and restitution of your liberties, through your contrition and penance, by Christ's merits and God's mercy, with temporal rewards of benefit, and expiation, by your industrious discoveries in your allotted portions; which that you may obtain, sacrifice but your sins on the broken altars of your contrite hearts to the Lord of mercies, and you have his own words for your free pardons. O how will your conversion and deliverance make your friends and the Angels of Heaven to rejoice! for I verily believe, the true compunction of your hearts will more facilitate the penetration of our Rocky Addits' than the strokes of your hands: And to encourage and assist you therein, I shall provide such holy and Orthodox Instructors for you, that by your conscientious observance of their moral and divine Lectures as well as their examples, you shall with much alacrity be able to overcome all the obstacles of this great work; For they will voluntarily participate with you in all things, that thereby they may cheerfully lead you into Christ's own fold. And therefore consult with your Consciences, and they will doubtless dictate to your memories, that the best way to pilot your sad souls, bodies, lives, and reputations from tempestuous storms of worldly vanities into a safe harbour, is with humble hearts to take this Mineral calling upon you, and to think, speak, and deport yourselves towards God in it, as if all the world did behold you, and to live and converse with man as in the immediate sight of our divine Creator, and then we shall rejoice in enjoying one another; for as I desire the Almighty, not to forgive me my sins, nor receive my soul, if I have any other ends than what hath been expressed, so I desire none of you to remove yourselves to this harmless and laborious calling, unless your resolutions be firm to those ends, which may crown your industry, otherwise we must be forced in obedience to our trust, to return you back to the Judge of your first condemnation, and pray that the All-Disposer may call you by some other means to repentance, which shall be the constant and fervent Petition of  
Your most Compassionate Friend, Thomas Bushel.   

To my Fellow-Prisoners for Debt, in Mind or Body.  
DEarly beloved Brethren in Bonds, I could hearty rejoice if we were so only for Christ's sake, for then our patience therein would render us happy in his mercy: Yet since the inhumanity of our Creditors (through the power of the Laws) usurps that revenge which is only God's in justice, let us with all humility submit ourselves to his permissive will, for the evil of punishment is his. My honourable Master the late Lord Chancellor Bacon was wont to tell me, That as Gentry bought nothing at Market, so Imprisonment paid no Debts, but those of the Penal Laws; and that he did verily believe, the fraudulent Contracts of most Creditors begot the disability of their Debtors satisfaction. I shall refer to your own Consciences the respective cause of your several restraints: Mine own is like that of the adventurous Merchant, who having sent all his own Stock in several Vessels to far distant Factories through the various dangers of the Deep, is constrained to take upon Trust at home, till the return of his Cargazoa, according to their success, proclaim him happy, or bankrupt; and if I had ever any other design in borrowing, let my Redeemer exclude me from the general pardon of his precious merits, who came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance, assuring us, that the blessed Angels rejoice more at the conversion of one true Penitent, than the integrity of ninety nine righteous; from whence we may conclude, 'tis ninety nine to one odds, that there are very few sincere Converts.  
But my beloved Fellow-sufferers, since now the Supreme Power of this Commonwealth doth, as I hear, intent, like S. Peter's good Angel, to open the doors of your Prisons by the wisdom of their mercies, I earnestly exhort you to mark the first day of your unexpected Jubilee with a white stone or red letter, in commemoration of so happy a deliverance, (lest God consume your lives with new afflictions and troubles) always remembering his glory and your eternity: And then take the grave admonition for your Cure, as the Mirror of my honoured Master prescribed to me, which was, To deny all my treacherous Senses their most delighting Objects; I fed on nothing that pleased my appetite, looking willingly on nothing which I formerly liked, nor accompanied any creature that affected my concupiscence, But frequented devious ways and solitary groves, and at last found out a desolate Island in the Irish seas, where three years I sadly lamented the errors of my youth, mingling the waters which I drank with the brine of mine eyes, and did sparingly eat the bread of affliction as it had been ashes. These were my first steps towards God's Mercy-seat, in a most unfeigned contrition for the Treason I committed against his Eternal Majesty: And surely he was not displeased therewith; for out of this depth of desolation he graciously called me to the public service of my Country, in the innocent way of a Miner; and how I have proceeded therein, with intention chief to glorify him, this annexed Treatise will give you an account. But there the inhumanity of my Creditors stopped me; yet I am confident, so soon as the Republic affairs will permit, the Honourable Parliament will enlarge me in order to my Mineral service, and their own Articles, as they have done you in mercy: And then I say, if any of you (either for a present subsistence, or a penitential way to expiate your former errors, or to reclaim your affections, or in hope to raise your lost fortunes and enable you to pay your honest Debts) will sweat with me in the way of this hopeful, virtuous and Philosophical labour, you shall eat bread with me so long as you please, whereby at last we may obtain such Mineral blessings from the Lord of Bounty, that we in true charity may be able to cast our bread upon the waters, by relieving many distressed Penitents whose sins have brought them to want bread, and whose age or sickness hath taken away their ability to work.  
And here I think 'tis proper to give you the Epitome of my Lords Design for the regulating his solomon's House or Academy. He proposes six principal Officers of State to succeeding times, as trusties, six exquisite lucre-hating Philosophers to bring his Theory into experimental practice, are to be handsomely maintained, upon a sacred oath to be true to the trust of his Philosophical secrets; Convicted men, & adventurous Volunteers, are to be chief instruments of the Mineral work, and are to be clothed in good Canvas or Welsh Cottons, their food Biscuit, Beef, Pease and Bacon thrice a week, the other days White-meat, Oil and Roots; their Drink of allowance for the most part is to be Water, but they shall not be barred Beer or Ale in orderly proportion; they are to lie on Mats, unless they rather choose a clean Plank; Lots and Delves shall be assigned to them, in which if God bless their honest diligence, they shall comfortably participate, whereby at last they may make themselves free, if a true and constant penitence be their heavenly guide; for impenitence barricadoes the Gates of Heaven faster against us than our Sins: For as true Contrition makes our hearts grateful sacrifices to God, so earnest Prayer on her dovelike wings presents them before his Mercies seat, and unfeigned Penitence softly sheaths up the sword of his justice. And for your better encouragement, if you come cheerfully into this Philosophical work, you shall also enter into the school of Christ; for I shall provide men excellency qualified in Theology, Morality and Humanity, whose examples as well as doctrines shall direct you in the ways of eternal life, and daily walk hand in hand with you towards Christ's paradise, the Saints New Jerusalem.  
But me thinks I hear some selfconceited and censorious Critic thus prevaricate upon the whole design: Truly I must profess it seems to my understanding very like a Lunacy in any whatsoever to propose or undertake so magnificent a Fabric as the Atlantic Solomon's House, without so mu●h as Straw to burn, Bricks for its foundation, no Princes Coffers, Monopoly, Smoke-mony, Lottery, Impost or Mart upon the discovery, but to the incredulous, no not so much as a partner save Providence in this new way of search for never discovered Mines, and recovering desperately deserted Works. To which I answer, first, If your Ancestors in former Ages had been such Sceptics, fire had been for ever concealed in the Flint, and all Metals in their native beds, Thule with the Western Islands and America had been as yet un-discovered: pray tell me, Is not Divine Providence the dispensator of God's Omnipotence? which the Eagle-sighted eye of this Philosophical Lords illuminated intellect most perspicuously discovered, and therefore resolved thus to prove it without detriment or hazard to any individual person: Is it not then a Godlike imitation? the Lord of the universal World brought all things which never had being, out of nothing; this Lord of universal Philosophy thereby offers mankind that good which never can be useful to him but by this means, which will cost him nothing, the dead in Law to search the dead and barren Mountains, and recover the dead and buried works; for Mineral treasure here is nothing but the dead, and the dead are nothing to the living. But these dead here (to whose lives the Law and Opinion hath set a period) by searching the graves of Minerals, preserve their lives for the present, and in time find their own Resurrection, by a temporal Expiation of their fatal Crimes, though their other hopes prove frustrate: but if the Almighty crowns their labours, observe how glorious it will prove! the Prince or State that shall then Rule, shall receive the first fruits; thousands of poor Subjects shall eat the bread of comfort thereby; Offenders shall be purged and freed; Trade shall be increased, and Customs augmented; a matchless Academy erected and maintained; new Arts discovered for the universal good, and honour of the Nation; the honourable trusties of the whole work shall merit glory, and gain Philosophical recreations; the experimenting Philosophers shall have a competent and comfortable subsistence during life, and after their change their respective Statues erected in the City of Wells; And as the Athenians when they dedicated a lively Image to the memory of the ancient Philosopher Pherecides, gave it a golden tongue, as a proper Emblem of his excellent eloquence, so each of theirs shall hold a significant Character of their peculiar Inventions in their well-proportioned hands. Which word hands, minds me of a saying of my Lords concerning the Convicted, which was, That he did steadfastly believe, that the hands of such whose stony hearts God had penetrated by true penitence, would make a more speedy, easy, and successful progress in any Mineral work they undertook, than three times the number of the most skilful Miners that work for wages only. For that learned Lord was of opinion, That the Subteran●an Spirits did much hinder the perfect discoveries of the richest Mines, sometimes by their apparitions, & often by the mischievous Gambols they played there, as by raising Damps, extinguishing the Miners lights, firing the sulphurous matter of the Mine, and scorching the greedy and faithless Workmen. For not only Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are of opinion, that there are multitudes of evil Spirits in the Airy Region, as also in the Waters, and the hollow Concaverns of the Earth; but divers of our more modern learned Writers and Theologians are of the same persuasion, as Tho. Aquinas, Gaudentius Merula, Pselius, Bodinus, and St. Agustine, who conceive that God hath permitted their temporal habitations therein, partly for men's trial, as that of Job, and partly for the punishment of the wicked, as the Demoniac in the 5. of St. Marks Gospel, out of whom Christ cast a whole legion of Devils, and by whose permission they destroyed a numerous Herd of the Gadarens Swine. These were created in the beginning, as Divines conclude out of the 38. of Job, when the Morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy; as may be conjectured by the Archangel Michael's victory over Lucifer and his rebellious Army of ambitious Spirits: And Christ himself tells us in the 10 of Luke, He beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven. What need I say more? That audacious Spirit, who had the impudence to tempt our Saviour, dares continually circled the Earth, still like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour. But Faith is the best Armour, and fervent Prayer the sharpest sword to vanquish him, who being but so resisted flies from us, and true Contrition and humble Penance conjures him away. And I pray you who ought to be more cordially penitent, than such whom the just Laws and their own consciences having cast into the jaws of death, God's mercy hath reprieved to expiate their crimes in so innocent and hopeful a work as this, to the good of their afflicted souls, their Country's profit, and his own glory? for Penitence, Reformation, and virtuous Emulation, are the most prevalent Engines to effect this noble Enterprise; which I had rather decline and utterly relinquish, than use any corrosive or compulsory means to constrain any of my penitential brethren to proceed in or accelerate their labours, as the Spaniard doth to his miserable Miners in America, and others in other places.  
Now concerning the validity and grandeur of this Mysterious Attempt, you are to understand, that the College of our most honoured Physicians, which is the Philosophical Oracle of our Commonwealth, have candidly certified the late Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, That as the Design was heroic and magnificent, so if it were not prejudiced and obstructed by the obloquy and sinister contrivance of self-interessed persons, it was like to produce much profit and honour to this our native Country.  
In a word, howsoever you value my Invitation to participate in my Mineral profession, neglect not my cordial Counsel in matters of Devotion and sincere Penitence: For 'tis conceived by some truly religious and very learned, that the Penitent only shall recruit the Regiments and glorious Host of the intellectual Angels, by supplying the place of them that fell with Lucifer in his great Rebellion. To which God of his mercy for the Son of his love's sake bring us all in his appointed time, by what several ends he shall think fit, is the prayers of your faithful Friend; as well as to find out by his holy Spirit those freeborn Minds of Noble Souls in either sex for my Executors, as will make the World their Heir, and are endowed with such virtuous Actions of Love and Charity, as might eternize the memory of my old Master, and magnify the Creator's glory in his works of Nature; which is and shall be the ambition of  
Your most Humble Servant, Thomas Bushel.   

The Attestation of the Gentlemen Proprietors about Hingston-Down.  
SIR,  
WE have seriously considered the proffered Civilities in your Letter, and the plain Demonstrations in your ingenuous Reasons, to cut North and South through the lowest Level of Hingston-Down, for crossing all such Metal-loads as lie East and West, and for freeing the Mines from the impediment of water; by which you may verify the old Proverb, Hingston-Down welly wrought, is worth London-Town dearly bought: And therefore you may rest assured, that we shall give our free consents and endeavours to procure other Gentlemen of our Country to further your most noble and unparallelled design, that a speedy dispatch may be made thereof for the general good of the Nation, which is and shall be ever much desired by  
SIR, Your very ready Friends and Servants, 

Edw. Herle.  
Cham Trevanion.  
John Boscowen.  
Chichester Wrey.  
Edw. Wise.  
William Wise.  
John Lampen.  
Ja. Lance.  
Richard Erisey.  
Jo. Chatley.  
Phil. Lanyon.  
Natha. Tarvanyon.  
Hu. Pomeroy.  
Tho. Grose.  
Richard Arundel.  
William Rous.  
N. Borlace.  
Tho. Lower.  
Fran. Buller.  
John Coryton.  
john Harris.  
Nich. Sharsell.  
John Battersby.  
J. Tremenhere.  
William Wrey.  
Will. Coysgrave.  
Edw. Wilcocks.  
John Fathers.  
David Haws.   Novemb. 11. 1656.  
For our Noble Friend Tho. Bushel Esq; These.   

Mr. Bushels Letter to the Miners of Mendyp, and their Answer, with the Juries Order.  
Fellow Miners,  
UPon the Overtures of my Mineral Discoveries taught me by the Theory of my old Master the Lord Chancellor Bacon's Philosophical Conceptions, His Highness the Lord Protector, upon hopes of the like providence in all his other Territories, to ease the Nation of their Taxes, gave me power to try the aforesaid Experiments, since it was conceived by the aforesaid Lord, that great riches lay in the Bowels of our Mother Earth, and underneath the superficies of the most barren Mountains; and in order to such his commands, I have not only published the enclosed declaration for satisfaction to all moderate persons, which have not  Principles against the honour of their native Country, but also am setting on foot the drowned and deserted works in the naked Promontories of Hingston-Down, Coomes Martin in Devon, and Guynop in Cornwall: And being likewise informed by your fellow Miners, that millions of wealth lie in Rowpits near Chewton Minery, which yet cannot be recovered from the inundation of water by the greatest Artists of former Ages, I have upon my own deliberation and viewing of the place, thought fit to render you the Experience of my practical endeavours, and with a willing mind to attempt the forelorn hope of their recoveries at my own charge, if I may have the well-wishes of you in general, and the moiety or half, bearing equal charge, when the water is drained; your speedy answer shall make me decline, or prosecute the same with effect, which is the only ambition of  
Your Faithful Friend, T.B. April 21. 1657.  
To his very loving Friends, John Phelps, Tho. Voules, Will. Cole, Alex. Jet, Will. Betten, Rob. Radford, and Tho. Wood, with the rest, These deliver.   

Right Worshipful,  
MAnna from Heaven was not more welcome to the Pilgrims of Israel, than the good news your Letter brought to us poor Miners of Mendyp, who now are like Moses in the Mount, which saw the Land of Promise, and yet could not enjoy the propriety thereof; even so fares it now with us: For a month or two of a droughty Summer we behold the appearance of much treasure lying in the veins of those metal Loads, and so soon as we are preparing for Harvest, to reap a mite of its Mineral profit, the inundation of water takes away our present possession, and leaves us exposed to a sad condition, having no other Profession for our livelihood. But if your goodness and charity will be pleased to extend the interest of your knowledge to drain the Rake called the Broad Rake of Sir Bevis Bulmars works in Rowpits near Chewton Minery, which is known to be the lowest Level, and Sole of those works, We do herein engage ourselves under our hands and Seals, and on the behalf of all others that shall hereafter work in the said Rake, that you and your Assigns shall have the moiety of the whole, paying half the charge; and likewise procure the Lord of the Soil to do the like, if you please to proceed with speed for the perfecting of the same; and in token of our affection to serve you, we have presumed not only to petition his Highness in your behalf for the better encouragement, but also oblige ourselves to tender you the first refusal of all our parts and shares of Oar, paying ready money, and giving us from time to time the same rate as other Merchants shall conceive it to be worth: And so we bid you hearty farewell, resting  
Your ever obliged Servants, 

Valen. Tryme, for his part.  
Tho. White.  
John Hoskins.  
Andrew Baller.  
Nich. Barrel.  
John Blackhouse.  
John Jonson's.  
Will. Norman.  
John Thrisel.  
Tho. Atwood sen.  
John Naish.  
Edw. Hopkins.  
Nich. Plumley.  
John Hinsh.  
Rich. Friar.  
James Midleham.  
John Phelps.  
Will. Voules.  
John Cole.  
Rob. Clark sen.  
Rob. Clark jun.  
Tho. Voules.  
Tho. Atwood jun.  
Alex. Jet.  
Tho. Rowles.  
Nich. Parker.  
Will. Dudden.  
John Radford.  
Rob. Radford.   May 2. 1657.  
For Tho. Bushel Esq.   

Mr. Basbee's Affidavit.  
Walter Basbee, aged ab●u● 80 years, maketh oath, That he was Saymaster ●o Goldsmith's Hall about fifty years ago, and versed in Minerals ever since both at home and abroad, and was by King J●m●s sent to the Emperor of Russia, to make him a S●…ndard of Gold & Silver in his Mint in the City of Moscovia, equivalent to the ●ower of London; And no sooner was that service performed by this Deponent, but his Imperial Majesty commanded him to refine the Gold of a rich Copper-mine lying in Cyberea, five hundred miles beyond the River Volgo, which held of Gold in every Tun to the value of three, four, or five hundred pounds; where this Deponent did remain until he was taken Prisoner by the Tartars, and afterwards exchanged by the Emperor to be sent for England, where this Deponent hath ever since spent most of his time, under Mr. bushel's Philosophical way, taught him by the late Lord Chancellor Bacon, which (in the judgement of this Deponent) cannot be paralleled by any, and if now practised according to his printed Remonstrance, and the Mineral Grand-Jury's Order of Chewton, this Deponent doth verily believe that the Age we live in will exceed all former Ages in Mineral Discoveries and their Separations.  
WALTER BASBEE.  
Sworn the 7. of December 1658. before me one of the Masters of Chancery in ordinary, W. GLASCOCK.   

Christopher wright's Affidavit.  
CHristopher Wright, aged fifty six years, maketh Oath, That he was sent by Mr. Joseph Hexeter of Cumberland, to be in the same place of Steward for direction of Mr. Bushels Minerals under ground, as the said Mr. Hexeter was under him in Wales at 100 l. per an. salary: And finding the said Mr. bushel to give such probable reasons for recovering the inundation of water out of the vast and drowned Works of Rowpits, by pursuing a Drift as a Common-shore, from the Concaves of a natural Swallow twenty fathom deep, after his industry had sunk twenty shafts to discover the same, on purpose to come to the rich Loads of metal known to be buried in the adjacent Groves of water, This Deponent and others, upon confidence of making good his great undertake therein (although his judgement was then much questioned by the Inhabitants for the attempt) did and do desire but half wages ever since the Miners of Mendip had invited the said Mr. bushel under their hands and Decree of their Court, to have half the profit, bearing half the charge, after the water was drained, which this Deponent doth verily believe will be in a short time perfected, and appear for precedent sake, as well as for present profit, the greatest work that hath been done by any Mineralists these hundred years, if the malicious attempts of some illnatured persons do not now hinder the growth of his proceed therein: For this Deponent doth depose, That by some wicked persons there was a great Lake of muddy water turned about the hour of midnight, and upon a great flood, into the Swallow, on purpose as is conceived to choke it, and so consequently to drown his men that came from foreign parts, and were then working twenty fathom deep, which this Deponent doth aver were forced to save their lives by running up their Groves at the same time, the Swallow being not able to receive the torrent of its water. And this Deponent doth likewise depose, That about the 10. of October last there was some other such envious persons, who pulled down so much of the under-timber of his Shaft, that the whole Grove of earth fell into Mr. Bushels Drift, when his men were at work underneath; and it was supposed by divers never to be recovered: But thanks be to God, the danger is past, and Mr. Bushels Drift goeth on towards the rich Works known to lie 150 fathom before him; for this Deponent was one of the workmen that landed 100 l. per week out of one Shaft this last summer, and saw 200 l. per week out of another; but the charge of drawing water, though in the drought of the summer, stood (as they reported) in 80 l. per week a piece, which Mr. Bushels Drift will prevent; and likewise to 1000 more of the like nature as are supposed to be within the verge of Rowpits.  
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT.  
Sworn the 3. of December 1658. before me one of the Masters of Chancery in ordinary, W. GLASCOCK.   

The Testimony of some Miners of Mendyp to the Council.  
WE whose names are hereunder written, being Miners, and well versed in the Mineral Rakes of Rowpits upon the Forest of Mendyp, are ready to testify upon Oath, That the great wrongs done to the Works of Thomas Bushel Esq; in Rowpits, as is deposed by Christopher Wright before a Master of Chancery, are of a certain truth; And we are likewise ready to testify our Opinions upon Oath, That if the way of Mr. Bushels now proceeding to recover these drowned and deserted works, may go on without molestation, according to the Orders of the Grand Jury of Chewton made for his encouragement, we do believe in our Consciences that there hath not been these hundred years such a service done to this Commonwealth, in advancing the knowledge of the Miners Trade, for profit and precedent. And we also humbly conceive, That if a binding Order be made by your Lordships to confirm (in all points) the said Grand Jury of Chewton's Orders for deterring unruly Miners from such exorbitancies, as also that no persons should lose any more their Summer's work to follow the Mines of Rowpits (which are now to no more purpose in matter of profit, than to wash the Black-moor) until Mr. Bushels Drift can come up to drain their inundation of waters, which (as we find expressed in his Remonstrance) he doth undertake to perfect in four years; and we do verily believe, that not only all the Oar may be then landed for two shillings per Tun, but that we shall then also know the inestimable riches of that place without further charge, or ruining more families in working upon Rowpits. And we do also confidently believe in our Consciences, that when Mr. Bushels now Drift from his Swallow doth come up to the old works drowned, and that he doth pursue likewise his Cross-Rake from his Swallow to the forebreast of Sir Bevis Bulmars' deserted work (as he saith he intends to do, so soon as he hath secured the place according to agreement, and the Grand Jury's Order of Chewton dated the 28 of May) the said Mr. Bushel will make good his Marqus of a Thousand pound per week: For there are men yet alive that will justify, that the forebreast of Sir Bevis Bulmar's work was nine foot wide in Oar; and we ourselves know, that a hundred pounds per week out of one Grove in the old work is ordinary, when the suffocation of water doth not hinder them.  


Jo. Bakehouse.  
Tho. Bakehouse.  
Jo. Doxy.     

The late King's Letter of Invitation to Mr. Bushel, confirming his procedure in Mineral Discoveries.  
CHARLES R.  
TRusty and well-beloved, We having taken into consideration your late Relation concerning your proceed and intentions for the perfecting of that great Work happily by you begun in Our County of Cardigan in Our Principality of Wales, concerning those hopeful Mines by you discovered, approving well of your beginnings, proceed, & intentions, We have thought good out of Our Royal disposition, to the encouraging of you and all such as are studious or industrious, to do to Us or Our Commonwealth profitable service, to assure you by these Our Letters, that you shall not only by Our Protection peaceably enjoy the Contract and Bargain by you made with the Lady Elizabeth Middleton concerning the said Mines, with all things thereunto belonging; but also be well assured, that both you, your Agents, Assistants or Coadjutors, shall from time to time have all the furtherance and favour We can vouchsafe to you or them. And for the better encouraging of you to go cheerfully and confidently on with the Works, when your learned Council at the Law shall advise you to pray any further Act or Acts from Us, whereby the Design may be advanced, and you and your assistants secured, you shall find Us ready to grant unto you any your lawful desires: And in the mean time these Our Letters shall be a good and sufficient Testimony of Our Royal intentions towards you, and our good wishes to the prosperity of your undertake. Given at Our Court at Whitehall under Our Signet, the three and twentieth day of February, in the twelfth year of Our Reign.  
To Our trusty and well-beloved Subject and Servant Thomas bushel Esq.  
This is entered in the Signet-Book the 23 of Febr. 1636, Ja. Store.   

The Merchant's Letter of Barnstaple to Mr. bushel concerning their accommodation of transporting his Lead and Oar gratis, etc.  
SIR,  
SInce you have been pleased at your own great charge to discover those deserted Works at Combmartin for the public good of our Country; and whereas you are interessed in the Mines of Wales, which furnish you both with Lead and Lead-Oar, These are to request you, to be pleased to make this our Harbour partaker of the Benefits may proceed therein, and what we buy not from you for ready moneys, we shall be ready to transport for you Frait-free instead of Ballast, you rendering it aboard, to all such Ports as our Vessels shall commerce withal. In so doing, we suppose the result thereof will more properly conduce to your hopeful proceed in the said Works of Combmartin, which we wish all happy success, and remain  
Your Loving Friends, 

Richard Harris  
William Leigh  
George Shirt  
Robert Dennis  
john Tucker  
Thomas Ho●wood  
Anthony Benny  
William Palmer  
Lyonel Becher  
Rich. Harris  
William Nottel  
john Down  
Walter Tucker  
R. Fleming  
Richard Medford  
William Wood  
Francis Newton  
Edward Fleming  
Tho. Cox  
Nathaniel Fisherleigh  
Robert Frayn.   Barnstable the 6, of Octob. 1648.   

The Attestation of the Physicians College in the City of London.  
WE whose names are hereunder written, have seen a Printed Paper of Mr. Bushels concerning Minerals, and opening of Mines, and do conceive it fit that he be encouraged in the prosecution of that design, which we conceive may be Benefit and Honour to our Commonwealth.  


Fran. Pruiean, Collegii Medicor. Londines. Praeses.  
Thomas Winston  
H. Clerk  
Tho. Turner  
Walter Charleton  
S. Argall  
Guliel. Rant  
Robert Loyd  
Iosh. Hinton  
Tho. Nurse  
Geo. Bate  
Edw. Smith  
Edw. Alstone.   Novemb. 29. 1652.   

A Certificate from the Miners presented to the Right Honourable, the Lordr and other of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council.  
May it please your Lordships,  
ACcording to your commands, We whose names are under written, being Miners, Smelters, Refiners, Carrier's, Washers, and Monyers belonging to his Majesty's Mines Royal, in the County of Cardigan, in all humility do certify of our certain knowledge and experience, concerning the new works lately discovered by God's providence to Thomas bushel Esquire, Farmer of his Majesty's Mines Royal in these parts, that the said Master bushel at his inestimable charge, having cut six hundred Fathom through the Rock at the lowest levels, North and South, for discovering the lost vein of Cum-sum lock, lying East and West, two hundred Fathom through the Mountain of Tallibont at sixty Fathom perpendicular, three several Addits' at Koginenn, one above another twenty and thirty Fathom centre, another at the Darren, to come under the Romans work, at an hundred Fathom centre, another at Bryn Lloyd fifty Fathom in length, and thirty Fathom centre, working day and night for the draining of the water, which formerly in the time of Customer Smith, and Sir Hugh Middleton in their working of the Mines Royal was never used, they only working upon the Superficies of the earth, the works being drowned with water before they could sink to the best of the vein, both for quantity and quality, and so the charge made to exceed the benefit, which danger is prevented by the aforesaid Addits', and the Royal Mines become more hopeful, especially by the assistance of his Majesty's Mint, for the speedy payment of all those that are employed in the said works, And Mr. Bushels own invention to save Wood, by reducing the Ore into Lead, and Silver, with Turf and Sea-coal Charked, which happy invention, had it not been found out, the works must needs have been left unwrought, the Country not being able to have supplied necessary fuel. And further, by the prohibition of transporting Over unwrought, that holdeth silver worth the refining, which His Majesty in his Princely wisdom saw to be very prejudicial, even to the utter overthrow of his Mines Royal.  
We have therefore great reason to be confident that his way of Working, with the restraint of transporting Over, will in short time greatly increase the Bullion of this Kingdom, for the honour of the King, and good of the Commonwealth, together with the employment of many hundred poor people, which would be otherwise an unsupportable burden to this barren Country, who by their present labour in these Mines are able to subsist with their Families, and thousands more might be daily set on work if Mr. Bushels undertake in the Mines Royal, may be confirmed for a certain time by this present high Court of Parliament.  


MINERS.  
David Fowls.  
William Rashly.  
Henry Cockler.  
David Bebb.  
Joseph Jefferies.  
George Turner.  
Hugh Reece.  
William david's.  
George Scotsmer.  
Thomas B●ickhead.  
Will. Griffith.  
Peter Baltiser.  
Francis Pierce.  
Maurice Lewis.  
Peter Edriser.  
Edward Blewys.  
Rob Emblin.  
Rob. Tailor.  
Robert Lowning.  
Thomas Fletcher.  
David Evans.  
George Dixon.  
Hugh Mason.  
David op Richard.  
Tho. Blewys.  
Michael Sanders.  
Morgan Williams.  
Tho. Clocker.  
Tho. Green.  
Bartho. Clocker.  
Francis Fisher.  
Hugh Benn.  
john Mason.  
George Tickle  
john Mason.  
john Fisher.  
David Loyd.  
David Williams.  
Henry Emblin.  
Maurice Taylor.  
John Emblin.  
Edward Reece.  
John Mason Sen.  
Will. Picharets.  
Evan Thomas.  
John Harris.  
Will. Tyson.  
Watkin Reece.  
john Smith.  
Morgan Pritchet.  
Griffith john.  
Will. Reece  
john Tuddar.  
john Huson.  
David jinkins.  
joseph Acherson.  
Edmund Poole.  
Edward Bebb.  
Philip Benn.  
Thomas james   With two Hundred more, whom for brevity we omit to name. 

Moniers.  
Henry Such.  
john Corbet.  
Richard Arnold.   

Refiners.  
john Estopp.  
David Estopp.  
Samuel johnson.  
Edw. Gibbon.  
Tho. Parker.  
Arthur Elissa.   

Smelters.  
Thomas Botham.  
Hugh james.  
Griffith Evans.  
john Watkin.  
jinkin Owen.  
john Epslie.  
john Evans.  
john Lewes.  
ja. Meredith.   

Washers.  
john Wring.  
Morgan john Lewis.  
Davy john.  
john jenkin's.  
Morgan Griff. john.  
Edmund Symons.  
Reece Morgan.  
Charles Willi●m●.  
Thomas adam's.     

To the Right Honourable the Lords and others of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council.  
ACcording to Yours Honours command, we have enquired and considered how the Mines-Royal were l●ft to Mr. Bushel by the Lady Middleton, and do in all humility declare, that the Silver Mines were not worth the working, until Mr. Bushel at his great charge discovered Rich Ore in the adjacent mountains, which in all likelihood will both increase the Bullion, and by his way of working, in short time give his Majesty a true trial what the invaluable riches of these his Welsh mountains are: for whereas the Mines in these parts were formerly wrought by Pumps, and so growing deep were left drowned with water, Mr. Bushel cuts through the main Rocks, at the lowest level, to an hundred fathom perpendicular, according to the Germane manner of working, which though chargeable, yet certain, having four several Addits' which he continueth driving night and day into four several mountains; his industry also hath outstripped former times, for by melting the poor fusible Ore, with the Rich, he produceth a third part more of Silver with the same charge: and for accommodating the works with all materials fit for Mines-Royal, he hath spared no cost about repairing the mills, hath also built in his Majesty's Castle of Aberystwith a fair Mint, hath contracted with Merchants of our own and other Nations to supply the people's necessity with Corn and other Provision, and payeth the Miners and Carriers at the Scales, and doubteth not to make them able Pioneers, and fit Soldiers to do his Majesty and their Country service upon any assault of an enemy. All which we commend to your Honourable consideration, praying, etc.  
Your Lordships humbly to be commanded 

Joseph Hexsteter, chief Steward of the Mines.  
Samuel Reynish, Water Barkesby, Assay Masters of the Mint.  
Humphrey Owen, Clark of the Mines.     

The Case of the Mine Royal judged to be by the most learned Lawyers under their hands.  
ALthough the Gold or Silver contained in the base Metals of a Mine in the Land of a Subject, be of less value than the base Metal, yet if the Gold or Silver do countervail the charge of the refining it, or be of more worth than the base Metal spent in refining it, this is a Mine Royal, and as well the base Metal as the Gold and Silver in it belongs by Prerogative to the Crown.  


Sir Ralph Whitefield his Majesty's Sergeant at Law.  
Sir Edward Herbert Attorney General.  
Oliver St. John Solicitor General.  
Orlando Bridegman the Prince's Solicitor.  
John Glanvil Serjeant.  
Rich. Creswel Sergeant.  
John Wild Sergeant.  
Rob. Holborn.  
John Hern.  
Edward Bagshaw.  
Thomas Lane.  
Richard King.  
Edmund Prideaux. Esqs;  
Jo. Maynard.  
Edward Hid.  
john Glynne.  
Charles Fulwood.  
Harbottle Grimstone.  
john White.  
George Peard.  
john Franklin.  
Richard Weston.  
john Glover.  
William Ellis.  
Thomas Culpepper.  
john Goodwin.  
William Sanford.  
john George.  
ja. Haward, Esqs;     

Chewton 28 of July, 1658.  
WHereas we of the Mineral Grand Jury finding by a decretal Order of our Predecessors, May 28. and their Letter May 2. in answer of Tho: bushel's Esq; to encourage him to go on in his adventures for recovering the drowned works of Rowpits, which were formerly the deserted works of Sir Bevis Bulmar in the time of Queen Elizabeth's Reign; And whereas many of the chief Adventurers in the said Rowpits, do and have consented to surrender not only the one half of their works and Mines there, but likewise the pre-emption of the other half, paying as much as any other Merchant will give, unto the said Tho: bushel and his Assigns, when the said Tho: bushel doth make it appear unto the Mineral Court for the time being, that by his and their workmanship they be freed from the inundation of their waters; We of the Grand Jury do Order and confirm the said Decree. And whereas we find the said Tho. bushel hath (in relation to his undertake of recovering their waters) brought it so near a probability of perfection, that in time all persons of known Judgement cannot but conclude, the same will be done for the general good of those that had formerly suffered by those Grooves, and likewise a precedent for others to follow the like example, as also the certainty of knowing the vast riches that lie in Rowpits and Green Oar: And whereas we are informed by the said Tho. bushel and others, of several misdemeanours committed against him by turning floods into his swallow, to choke and extirpate all his proceed, stealing of his tools from his works, depraving of his Person with scandalous language, and making new pitches in Rowpits before him, so soon as they saw the fore-field of Mr. bushel's Drift from his Swallow had but a vein of ground Oare, four foot wide, and three fathom high, to cherish his chargeable undertake; which uncivil actions of theirs were, as we conceive, contrary to all equity and good conscience; and in a manner an Act of Tyranny in us, that Mr. Bushel should drain our waters, and we should suffer strangers to take the benefit of new pitches from his adventures to recover such drowned and forsaken works as the greatest Engineer hath deserted, when all persons have the whole Hill of Mendyp to make their fortunes by such pitches, as he allegeth, and not to discourage his desperate undertake therein by such ●alicious practices, and especially to such a person as Mr. bushel, that is sent by his Highness the Lord Protector, to recover such drowned and deserted works for the public good of the Nation, with power to dig, delve, and search in the several grounds of all his Territories, by Letters Patents, paying double trespass, as well as in all vast Commons, upon hopes from such experiments to ease in time the Taxes of the Subject, and to give new birth to the drooping condition of a Miners possession; We of the grand Jury of Chewton (and other Workmasters and Miners) for the reasons aforesaid, and for preventing any just complaints to the Lord Paramount against out Lord Royal's Court of Chewton for such incivilities to the person which his Highness hath trusted in that affair, do Order and make this Decree (for the said Tho. bushel's better encouragement) That from the day of the date of the Order May 28, all such new pitches shall be void in Rowpits and Green Oar, but such as the said Tho. bushel shall approve and allow of; and that all former works that have been wrought upon within these five years, and sunk five fathom deep, to stand good by consent, provided that they keep them lawful, and sink them to the water, when the said Thomas bushel is come near them with his Drift of sixteen fathom deep by the approbation of this grand Jury, that so the wilfulness of any malicious person might not hinder such a proceed to know the Meanders of those Mineral Rakes in their deeper search, and the way to go to their recoveries for their own good, as well as Mr. bushel's reputation in the attempt of that great design. And whereas the said Tho. bushel doth aver, that he never did intent to make it a Mine Royal by his Art and Skill (to the prejudice of us, our Laws and Liberties) as it was reported, unless it ●ere against the interest of some cross-grained scurrilous fellow, that will not be governed by our own grand Jury, but rather contest with his Highness right to Rowpits, and bids defiance to Prerogative Power, or are backed by a malicious faction that would hinder the growth of the Lord Chancellor Bacon's Philosophy in recovering the same for the glory of the Nation, these considerations, and at our request to him upon the aforesaid agreement, that he would show his quondam Master's Philosophy for recovering Rowpits and Green Oar from their inundations of water, which is well known to us to be rich in the tre●sures of Led, and to free other works of greater moment from their contagious damps, that now lie deserted, on purpose that the overplus of their revenue, proceeding from such a deplorable condition, and raised by the hand of Providence and Industry, might go (as Mr. bushel did likewise aver, upon the word of a Gentleman) to charitable uses of discovering richer Metals expressed in his late Remonstrance to his Highness, as well as by his late Will and Testament, for the first fruits thereof to led the Tower and School in the Church of Wells; We of the grand Jury do likewise make this Order and Decree, That if any misdemeanour as aforesaid, shall be proved to be done against the said Tho. bushel, his Agents, Servants or works, such are not only to be banished the occupation upon Mendyp, but we do humbly implore his Highness to send them to the Mines of jamaica, that they may not infect others, nor bring by their exorbitant courses more scandal upon the whole profession of a Miners innocent calling; since we are satisfied in our consciences, that the way of Mr. bushel's Mineral proceed, will in this Age bring wonderful things to pass, and be admired in the next, for the glory of the Nation; And especially when as the said Tho. bushel doth aver that he will transport all his rich Western Mines, lying upon the Seaside, which are or shall be discovered in Wales, Devon, Cornwall and Ireland, unto the Port or Haven at Up-hill, to receive their true separations according to the Lord Chancellor Bacon's Philosophy, and so to be minted in the adjacent City of Wells, for satisfying all returns, as well as to pay the Miner with his own Coin, and (without any further salary than in one place) to pay the whole of that Commerce.  


Io Radford Foreman of the Mineral Grand Jury there, with his fellows.  
Walter Webb.  
Richard Frank.  
Richard adam's.  
john Phelps.  
Thomas Young.  
William Dowgling.  
Alexander Cuer.  
William Hopkins.  
jonas Lexstond.  
john House.  
Richard Ayrer.     

To our Dread Sovereign Lord the KING'S most Excellent MAJESTY.  
May it please your Majesty,  
WE do most humbly and thankfully acknowledge, that your Majesty's vouchsafing to this your Principality the trust of a branch of your Royal Mint, is an honour that neither our Ancestors nor ourselves durst wish for; and we do as humbly and as thankfully acknowledge and confess, that by it you have not only honoured us more, than any of your Royal predecessors, but have thereby offered us the means to enrich ourselves, to the making of us happier than our Fathers, in freeing us f●om the cares and fears that hindered us from diving into these Mountains that promise a mass of Treasure. For be pleased to know, that before your Majesty vouchsafed unto us this great favour, we were fearful to adventure far into the Mountains, because we had far to send before we could make the Silver current, that we should at charge recover. Nor was our care of carriage and recarriage the least hindrance to our proceed, from all which, by your Majesty's goodness, and the endeavours of your industrious and faithful Servant Thomas Bushel, we are happily freed; for which favour, we whose names are hereunto subscribed, in the behalf of all the Inhabitants of this your Principality of WALES, do render all humble and hearty thanks, and for them, and ourselves, do hereby promise to Your Sacred Majesty, that we will do our utmost endeavours, to find out that Treasure, which we believe God and Nature from the Creation hath preserved for your Majesty's use; that thereby we may approve ourselves your Majesty's loyal and most Obedient Subjects, and humble Servant.  


Thomas Milward Knight, Chief Justice of Chester.  
Marmaduke LLoyd Knight.  
Richard Price K. Baronet.  
James Price Knight.  
Samson Ewer Knight.  
john Lewis Knight.  
Timothy Turner Esq;  
L. Littleton Esq;  
Walter LLoyd Esq;  
Thomas Price Esq;  
Robert Corbet Esq;  
Evan Gwin Esq;  
Morgan Herbert Esq;  
John Vaughan Esq;  
Vincent Corbet Esq;  
Humphrey Green Esq;  
john LLoyd Esq;  
David LLoyd ap Reighnald Esq;  
Thomas Phillips Esq;  
john Edmund Esq;  
Hugh LLoyd Gent.  
David Rees Gent.  
john Bowen Gent.  
William Watkin Gent.  
john Meredith Gent.  
james Kegitt Gent.     

Die Sabbati 14. Aug. 1641.  
WHereas this House hath been informed, that Thomas bushel Esquire, undertaker of his Majesty's Mines-Royal in the County of Cardigan, by his great charge and industry in cutting Addits' hath gained His Majesty's old drowned and forsaken works or Tallybont, and other works, and made new discoveries of Royal-Mines there, which are already very considerable; And whereas divers persons of qual ty encouraged by his Majesty's Letters to them directed, do intent to adventure great sums of money in the said works, which in time (if well encouraged) may prove of great consequence, both for Honour and Profit to His Majesty and the Kingdom; And whereas also it appeareth unto this House by divers Affidavits and Certificates of credit, that some persons ill-affected to these Honourable and Public services who in time may receive deserved punishments, have disturbed the possession of the said Tho. bushel in some of his Majesty's Mines-Royal, and Edifices appertaining to the Royal-works, and have plucked up divers plumps cast in the Rubbish, drowned, and (so much as in them did lie) destroyed the said work, so as it hath been a labour of four years' night and day to recover the same. And that also the said Tho. bushel hath been disturbed in the getting of Turf and Peat for the service of his Majesty's works, being an invention of his own, very commendable and commodious for the preserving of Wood, which hath been heretofore by the former Undertakers much wasted in those parts. Now for the remedy of the said Mischiefs, and that the said Tho. bushel and his Assigns, and such persons as are or shall be Undertakers and Adventurers with him in the said service may receive all due encouragement and assistance in those chargeable undertake; It is ordered by the Lords in the Upper House of Parliament now assembled, That the Speaker of this House, in the Name, and by the Authority of the same, shall direct His Letters unto the judges of Assize, and justices of the Peace of the said County of Cardigan: Requiring them, that they do in all lawful things endeavour to advance, and encourage the said service in his Majesty's Royal Mines, and assist the said Tho. bushel and other Undertakers, in all things so far as lawfully they may, both for the continuance of his lawful Possessions, and and the quiet and peaceable working of the said Mines, until he shall be evicted by due course of Law, as also for getting and working of Turf and Peat, according to his Legal right upon his Majesties Wastes, and other places lawful, and all other lawful accommodations of necessary passages, and other Legal things, which may any ways advance His Majesty's service in the said Royal Mines.  
JO. BROWN Cler. Parliament.   

The Miners contemplative Prayer in his solitary Delves, which is conceived requisite to be puhlished, that the Redder may know, his heart implores Providence for his Mineral increase, aswell as Petitions liberty from men to dig for Treasure in their barren Mountains.  
MOst glorious and omniscient Lord God, who inhabitest Eternity, and by thy omnipotent fiat didst in the beginning create the admirable fabric of the Universe; the Heavens are thy Throne, and the Earth is thy Footstool, on which thou didst frame our first Parent of red Clay, and from thence gavest him his name, into whose Nostrils thou didst breathe the Spirit of Life, enduing him with a reasonable Soul, and madest him Lord of all thy Creatures; But he being in honour could not abide so, but became like the Beast that perisheth, through the treachery of that first Rebel Satan, who ever since endeavoureth to supplant his wretched posterity, of whom my sinful self am one. Give me therefore (O Lord) a true sense of mine own sins without despair, sincere contrition, unfeigned sorrow and earnest repentance without hypocrisy; make my Prayers fervent, holy and grateful, that they may come before thee as the incense of a true penitent soul; for a broken and contrite heart, is a sacrifice which thou wilt not despise: And now, O God, having first sought thy mercy on my soul, give me leave to implore thy blessing on my temporal affairs to thy sole glory. O Lord, thy Spirit hath affected mine with the speculation and practice of Mineral Philosophy, and thou wert pleased to bless that most Royal and ancient Philosopher, who understood and writ of the natures of all vegetables, from the Cedar of Lebanon, to the pellitory or moss on the wall, as plainly appeared by the success of his Miners transported by Hyrams Mariners to Opher, whence they returned with 450. Talents of Gold, for effecting whereof that King built and rigged a powerful Navy at Ezron Gebar on the red Sea, with a vast expense of his own or people's treasure; But (O Lord) my modest design requires no such charge or means, the propositions of that great modern Philosopher, my worthy honoured Lord, are to discover those hidden Treasures, which thy inscrutable wisdom hath lodged in the Bowels of the most barren Mountains, and desperately deserted Mineral works of our native Countries. It is true (Lord) they that descend to the Sea in ships, see they wonders in the depth thereof; but such as search the secret Entrails of the Earth, to find out thy concealed wonders there, carry their lives in their hands, being free among the dead, whence they pray unto thee, and praise thy marvellous works of nature, when men ride over their heads. But (O Lord) the insatiate thirst of riches or vain glory spurs not me on to this dangerous and laborious attempt, but my zeal to thy glory, and my Country's good. Solomon beautified thine own Temple which he had built with his far sought Mineral Treasure, and I would therefore willingly erect a house to the honour of his name; in which fabric (designed by my honoured Master) true Christian Philosophers, of eminent knowledge, virtuous lives, and holy conversations, might by practical search and discoveries reveal to succeeding ages these beneficent rarities, and profitable experiments which that great King first treated of, being lost (as is conceived) to all mankind through thy several Judgements, thrown in thine own back sliding people, till that Lord (my quondam Master) assisted by thy Spirit of wisdom, did in his natural History, and that most excellent model in his New Atlantis propose to the world a new means to make use of them, to thy glory, and the benefit of all thy servants, without any considerable charge to this or any other State. But (O Lord) the blindness, stupidity and diffidence of man's heart hath as yet obstructed the procedure thereof. Dives desired no other means than a Messenger from Hell for the conversion of his Brethren which he had misled; now the living which converse with the subterranean spirits cannot be believed in reporting thy wonders in the bosom of the Earth. The Ninevites were converted when thy fugitive Prophet brought them a penitential Sermon out of the belly of the Whale; grant (O my God) that I which am at present buried alive, and secluded from the World may be thence heard by thee, and so credited by the present ruling Power, that I thy humble suppliant (who like the poor bedridden men at the Pool of Bethesda have lain long impotent and unable to move) may find some faithful Patriots to assist my cause, and make them sensible that I beg nothing but that which is lost, and the help of the dead only to recover it. The Mines that I Petition for are drowned, and their works desperately deserted; the persons I propose for their recovery, are such as are dead in Law, and crave as a mercy to be buried in them, by a patiented undergoing their punishment as pioners, and turning their necessities into such virtuous actions, rather than a forced banishment should expose them to a seven years' slavery in foreign plantations. Diamonds best cut Diamonds, the stonyhearted are fittest to cut the stony Addits' of the Mines, and like to like will agree best, when a penitential Soul strikes the blow. For (O Lord) we all know, the Prodigal Child was punished with its opposite; and believe all others have congruity in the like, when thy only Son was forced for taking upon him the sins of man, to descend himself into Hell, before he could ascend into Heaven; and who knows (O Lord) but that this Mineral employment is the best way found out for us Mortals, to discipline all offenders capable of mercy, with discovering thy concealed Treasures, and make such thy only creatures, when the person which thou placest over them by thy Ministers of State, shall take delightful care in their education and amendment, to thy own glory and the public good, since thou joyest more in one of them, than in 99 righteous, that need no repentance. O Lord, in these designs I earnestly beg thy assistance, since thy Son our Saviour hath bid us to ask, seek and knock, that we may obtain, find and be admitted; pardon then my confidence, diligence and importunity: I have now spent many Lustres of my life, and some Treasure in prosecution of this design; O let me effect it so to thy glory before I go hence, as my Feoffees in trust may not be discouraged to go on where I have left; for time makes haste, to call for nature's debt, and Death is none of thy Creature. Let not then my worst Creditor be only satisfied, before thou hast assisted me in some measure to pay the Debt of Zeal and Obedience which I own to thee, that of Love and Service due to my native County, the real sums due to confiding friends, and the great Debt of gratitude to the memory of my famous Master, Foster-Father and Instructor in these undertake. Pardon then my sins, and grant this my Boon, since mercy and bounty are the most essential Attributes of thy Glory; to whom all Honour, Obedience, Praise and Thanksgiving is now and ever due, Amen.   

An Abridgement of my Lord Bacon's Atlantis.  
GOD bless thee my Son, I will give thee the greatest Jewel I have: For I will impart unto thee, for the true love of God and Men, a relation of the true State of Solomon's House. Son, to make you know the true State of Solomon's House, I will keep thi● order. First, I will set forth unto you the end of our Foundation. Secondly, the Preparations and Instruments we have for our works. Thirdly, the several Employments and Functions whereto our Fellows are assigned. And fourthly, the Ordinances and Rites which we observe.  
The end of our Foundation is the knowledge of Causes, and secret motions of things: and the Enlarging of the bounds of Humane Empire, to the effecting of all things possible.  
The Preparations and Instruments are these. We have large and deep Caves of several Depths: The deepest are sunk 600 Fathom: And some of them are digged and made under great Hills and Mountains: So that if you reckon together the Depth of the Hill, and the Depth of the Cave, they are (some of them) above three miles deep. For we find, that the depth of an Hill, and the depth of a Cave from the Flat, is the same thing; both remote alike from the Sun, and Heavens Beams, and from the open Air. These Caves we call the Lower Region. And we use them for all Coagulations, Indurations, Refrigerations, and Conservations of Bodies. We use them likewise for the Imitation of Natural Mines; And the producing also of new Artificial Metals, by Compositions and Materials which we use and lay there for many years. We use them also sometimes, (which may seem strange) for Curing of some Diseases, and for Prolongation of Life, in some Hermits that choose to live there, well accommodated of all things necessary, and indeed live very long, by whom also we learn many things.  
We have Burials in several Earth's, where we put divers Cements, as the Chineses do their Porcelain. But we have them in greater Variety, and some of them more fine. We also have great variety of Composts, and Soils, for the making of the Earth fruitful.  
We have high Towers, The highest about half a Mile in height; And some of them likewise set upon high Mountains: So that the vantage of the Hill with the Tower, is in the highest of them three Miles at least. And these places we call the Upper Region; Accounting the Air between the High places, and the Low, as a Middle Region. We use these Towers, according to their several Heights and Situations, for Insolation, Refrigeration, Conversion; And for the View of divers Meteors; as Wind, Rain, Snow, Hail; And some of the Fiery Meteors also. And upon them, in some places, are dwellings of Hermits, whom we visit sometimes, and instruct what to observe.  
We have great Lakes, both Salt and Fresh, whereof we have use for the Fish, and Fowl. We use them also for Burials of some Natural Bodies: For we find a difference in things buried in Earth, or in Air below the Earth, and things buried in Water. We have also Pools, of which some do strain Fresh Water out of Salt; And others by Art do turn Fresh Water into Salt. We have also some Rocks in the midst of the Sea; And some Bays upon the Shore for some Works, wherein is required the Air and Vapour of the Sea. We have likewise violent Streams and Cataracts, which serve us for many Motions: And likewise Engines for Multiplying and Enforcing of Winds, to set also on going divers Motions.  
We have also a number of Artificial Wells and Fountains, made in imitation of the Natural Sources and Baths; as tincted upon Vitriol, Sulphur, Steel, Brass, Led, Nitre, and other Minerals: And again, we have little Wells for Infusions of many things, where the Waters take the virtue quicker and better, than in Vessels or Basins, And amongst them we have a Water, which we call water of Paradise, being by that we do to it, made very Sovereign for Health and Prolongation of Life.  
We have also great and spacious Houses, where we imitate and demonstrate Meteors; as Snow, Hail, Rain, some Artificial Rains of Bodies, and not of Water, Thunder, Lightnings; Also Generations of Bodies in Air; as Frogs, Flies, and divers others.  
We have also certain Chambers, which we call Chambers of Health, where we qualify the Air as we think good, and proper for the cure of di- Diseases, and preservation of Health.  
We have also fair and large Baths, of several mixtures, for the Cure of Diseases and the restoring of Man's Body from Arefaction: and other for the Confirming of it in Strength of Sinews, vital parts; and the very Juice and Substance of the Body.  
We also have large and various Orchards and Gardens, wherein we do not so much respect beauty, as variety of Ground and Soil, proper for divers Trees and Herbs: And some very spacious, where Trees and Berries are set, whereof we make divers kinds of Drinks, besides the Vineyards. In these we practise likewise all Conclusions of Grafting, and Inoculating, as well of Wild-Trees as Fruit-Trees, which produceth many effects: And we make (by Art) in the same Orchards, and Gardens, Trees, and Flowers, to come earlier or later than their Seasons, and to come up and bear more speedily than by their Natural Course they do. We make them also by Art much greater than their Nature; And their Fruit greater and sweeter, and of different Taste, Smell, Colour, and Figure, from their Nature. And many of them we so order, that they become of Medicinal Use.  
We have also means to make divers Plants rise by Mixtures of Earth without Seeds; And likewise to make divers New Plants, differing from the vulgar, and to make one Tree or Plant turn into another.  
We have also Parks, and Enclosures of all sorts of Beasts and Birds, which we use not only for view or Rareness, but likewise for Dissections and Trials; That thereby we may take light, what may be wrought upon the Body of Man. Wherein we find many strange Effects. as Continuing Life in them, though divers Parts, which you account Vital, be perished, and taken forth, Resuscitating of some that seem Dead in Appearance, and the like. We try also all Poisons, and other Medicines upon them, as well of Chirurgery as Physic. By Art likewise we make them Greater or Taller than their kind is; And contrary wise Drawf them and stay their Growth: We make them more Fruitful and Bearing than their kind is; And contrariwise Barren and not Generative. Also we make them differ in Colour, Shape, and Activity many ways. We find means to make Commixtures and Copulations of divers Kind's, which have produced many New Kind's, and them not Barren, as the general opinion is. We make a number of Kind's of Serpents, Worms, Flies, Fishes, of Putrefaction, whereof some are advanced (in effect) to be Perfect Creatures, like Beasts, or Birds; And have Sexes, and do propagate. Neither do we this by Chance, but we know before hand, of what Matter and Commixture, what Kind of those Creatures will arise.  
We have also Particular Pools, where we make Trials upon Fishes, as we have said before of Beasts and Birds.  
We have also Places for Breed and Generation of those Kind's of Worms, and Flies, which are of Special Use; such as are with you your Silkworms and Bees.  
I will not hold you long with recounting of our Brew-houses, Bake-houses, and Kitchens, where are made divers Drinks, Bread, and Meats, rare and of especial effects. Wines we have of Grapes; and Drink of other Juice, of Fruits, of Grains, and of Roots, and of Mixtures with Honey, Sugar, Manna; and Fruits dried and decocted: Also of the Tears or Wound of Trees; And of the Pulp of Canes. And these Drinks are of several Ages, some to the Age or Last of forty years. We have Drinks also brewed with several Herbs, and Roots, and Spices; Yea with several Flesh's, and White-Meats; whereof some of the Drinks are such as they are in effect Meat and Drink both: So that divers, especially in Age, do desire to live with them, and with little or no Meat, or Bread. And above all we strive to have Drinks of Extreme Thin Parts, to insinuate into the Body, and yet without all Biting Sharpness, or Fretting; Insomuch as some of them put upon the back of your hand, will with a little stay pass thorough to the Palm, and yet taste mild to the Mouth. We have also Waters, which we ripen in that fashion, as they become Nourishing; So that they are indeed excellent Drink: And many will use no other. Breads we have of several Grains, Roots, and Kernels; Yea, and some of Flesh, and Fish, Dried, with divers kinds of Leave, and Seasonings: So that some do extremely move Appetites; Some do nourish so as divers do live of them, without any other Meat; Who live very long. So for Meats, we have some of them so beaten, and made Tender, and mortified, yet without all Corrupting, as a Weak heat of the Stomach will turn them into good Chilus; As well as a Strong heat would Meat otherwise prepared. We have some Meats also, and Breads and Drinks, which taken by Men, enable them to Fast long after; and some other, that used make the very Flesh of men's Bodies sensibly more Hard and Tough, and their Strength far greater, than otherwise it would be.  
We have Dispensatories, or Shops of Medicines, wherein you may easily think, if we have such variety of Plants, and Living Creatures, more than you have in Europe, (for we know what you have) the Simples, Drugs, and Ingredients of Medicines must likewise be in so much the greater Variety. We have them likewise of divers Ages, and long Fermentations. And for their Preparations, We have not only all manner of exquisite Distillations, and Separations, and especially by Gentle Heats, and Percolations through divers Strainers, yea and Substances, But also Exact Forms of Composition, whereby they incorporate almost as they were Natural Simples.  
We have also divers Mechanical Arts, which you have not; And Stuffs made by them; As Papers, Linen, Silks, Tissues, dainty Works of Feathers of wonderful lustre; excellent Dies, and many others: and Shops likewise as well for such as are not brought into vulgar use among us, as for those that are. For you must know, that of the things before recited, many of them are grown into use throughout the Kingdom, But yet, if they did flow from our Invention, we have of them also for Patterns and Principles.  
We have also Furnaces of great Diversities, and that keep great Diversity of Heats: Fierce and Quick; Strong and Constant; Soft and Mild; Blown, Quiet, Dry, Moist; And the like. But above all we have Heats, in imitations of the Suns and Heavenly Bodies Heats, that pass divers inequalities, and (as it were) Orbs, Progresses, and Returns, whereby we may produce admirable effects. Besides we have Heats of Dungs; and of Bellies and Maws of Living Creatures, and of their Bloods and Bodies; and of Hayes and Herbs laid up moist, of Lime unquenched, and such like. Instruments also which generate Heat only by Motion. And further, Places for strong Insolations; And again, places under the Earth, which by Nature, or Art yield Heat. These divers Heats we use, as the Nature of the Operation which we intent, requireth.  
We have also Perspective Houses, where we make Demonstrations of all Lights and Radiations; And of all Colours: And out of Things uncoloured and Transparent, we can represent unto you all several Colours, not in Rain-bows (as it is in Gems, and Prisms,) but of themselves Single; We represent also all Multiplications of Light, which we carry to great distance: and make so sharp, as to discern small Points and Lines. Also all Colourations of Light. All Delusions and Deceits of the Sight, in Figures, Magnitudes, Motions, Colours; All Demonstrations of Shadows. We find also divers means yet unknown to you, of Producing of Light, Originally, from divers Bodies; We procure means of seeing Objects Afar off; as in the Heaven and remote places: And represent Things Near as Afar off; And Things Afar off as Near, making Feigned distances. We have also Helps for the Sight far above Spectacles and Glasses in use; We have also Glasses and Means to see Small and Minute Bodies, perfectly and distinctly; As the Shapes and Colours of Small Flies and Worms, Grains, Flaws in Gems, which cannot otherwise be seen: Observations in Urine and Blood not otherwise to be seen. We make Artificial Rain-bows, Heloes' and Circles about Light. We represent also all manner of Reflections, Refractions, and Multiplication of Visual Beams of Objects.  
We have also Precious Stones, of all kinds, many of them of great beauty and to you unknown; Crystals likewise; And Glasses of divers kinds, and among them some of Metals Vitrificated, and other Materials, beside those of which you make Glass. Also a number of Fossiles, and imperfect Minerals which you have not. Likewise Load-sfones of Prodigious Virtue: And other rare Stones, both Natural and Artificial.  
We have also Sound Houses, where we practise and Demonstrate all Sounds, and their Generation. We have Harmonies which you have not, of Quarter-Sounds, and Slides of Sounds. Divers Instruments of Music likewise to you unknown, some sweeter than any you have; With Bells and Rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent small sounds, as great and deep; Likewise Great sounds Extenuate and sharp; we make divers tremble and Warble of Sound which in their Original are Entire, we represent and imitate all Articulate sounds and Letters, and the Voices and Notes of Beasts and Birds. We have certain Helps, which set to the Ear do further the Hearing greatly. We have also divers strange and Artificial Echoes Reflecting the Voice many times, and as it were tossing it: And some that give back the voice louder than it came, some shriller, and some Deeper; Yea some rendering the Voice, Differing in the Letters or Acriculate Sound, from that they receive. We have all means to convey Sounds in Trunks, and Pipes, in strange Lines, and Distances.  
We have also Perfume-houses, wherewith we join also Practices of Taste. We Multiply Smells which may seem strange. We Imitate Smells, making all Smells to breath out of other mixtures than those that give them. We make divers Imitations of Taste likewise, so that they will deceive any man's Taste. And in this House we contain also a Confiture-House; where we make all Sweetmeats Dry and Moist; And divers pleasant Wines, Milks, Broths, and Salads, far in greater Variety than you have.  
We have also Engine-Houses, where are prepared Engines and Instruments for all sorts of Motions. There we imitate and practise to make Swifter Motions than any you have, either out of your Muskets, or any Engine that you have, and to Make them, and multiply them more Easily, and with Small-Force by Wheels and other Means, and to make them stronger and more Violent, than yours are; Exceeding your greatest Cannons and Basilisks. We represent also Ordnance and Instruments of War, and Engines of all kinds: and likewise new Mixtures and Compositions of Gunpowder, Wildfires burning in Water, and Unquenchable: Also Fireworks of all Variety, both for pleasure and use. We imitate also Flights of Birds; We have some Degrees of Flying in the Air. We have Ships and Boats for going under Water, and Brooking of Seas; Also Swimming Girdles, and Supporters. We have divers curious Clocks, and other Motions of Return: And some perpetual Motions. We imitate also Motions of Living Creatures, by Images of Men, Beasts, Birds, Fishes and Serpents; We have also a great number of other Various Motions, strange for Equality, Fineness and Subtlety.  
We have also a Mathematical-House, where are represented all Instruments as well of Geometry, as Astronomy, tightly made.  
We have also Houses of Deceits of the Senses; Where we represent all manner of Feats of juggling, false Apparitions, Impostures, and Illusions; And surely you will easily believe that we that have so many Things truly Natural, which induce Admiration, could in a world of Particulars deceive the Senses, if we would disguise those Things, and labour to make them more Miraculous. But we do hate all Impostures and Lies: Insomuch as we have severely forbidden it to all our Fellows, under pain of Ignominy and Fines, that they do not show any Natural Work or Thing, Adorned, or Swelling; but only Pure as it is, and without all Affectation of Strangeness.  
These are (my Son) the Riches of Solomon's House.  
For the several Employments and Offices of our Fellows, We have Twelve that Sail into Foreign Countries under the Name of other Nations, (for our own we conceal:) Who bring us the Books and Abstracts, and Patterns of Experiments of all other parts. These we call Merchants of Light.  
We have Three that collect the Experiments, which are in all Books. These we call Depredators.  
We have Three that Collect the Experiments of all the Mechanical Arts; And also Libetal Sciences; And also of practices which are not Arts. These we call Mystery men.  
Such as themselves think good. These we call Pioners or Miners.  
We have Three that draw the Experiments of the Former four into Titles and Tables, to give the better light for the drawing of Observations and Axioms out of them. These we call Compilers.  
We have Three that bend themselves, looking into the Experiments of their Fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them Things of Use, for Man's life and knowledge, as well for Works as for Plain Demonstration of Causes, clear Means of Natural Divinations, and the easy Discovery of the virtues and Parts of Bodies. These we call Dowry-men or Benefactors.  
Then after divers Meetings and Consults of our whole Number, to consider of the former labours and Collections, we have Three that take care, out of them to direct new Experiments, of a Higher Light, more Penetrating into Nature than the Former. These we call Interpreters of Nature.  
We have Three others that do execute the Experiments, so Directed, and Report them. These we call Inoculators.  
Lastly, We have Three that raise the former Discoveries by experiments, into Greater Observations, Axioms, and Aphorisms. These we call Interpreters of Nature.  
We have also, as you must think, Novices and Apprentices, that the succession of the former employed men do not fail; besides a great Number of Servants and Attendants, Men and Women. And this we do also: We have Consultations, which of the Inventions and Experiences which we have discovered shall be published, and which not: And take all an Oath of Secrecy, for the concealing of those which we think meet to keep Secret, Though some of those we do reveal sometimes to the State, and some not.  
For our Ordinances and Rites; we have two very Long and Fair Galleries: In one of these we place Patterns and Samples of all manner of the most Rare and excellent Inventions; In the other we place the Statues of all Principal Inventors. There we have the Statue of your Columbus, that discovered the West-Indies; Also the Inventor of Ships. Your Monk that was the Inventor of Ordnance, and of Gunpowder: The Inventor of Music: The Inventor of Letters: The Inventor of Printing: The Inventor of Observations of Astronomy: The Inventor of Works in Metal: The Inventor of Glass: The Inventor of Silk of the Worm: The Inventor of Wine: The Inventor of Corn and Bread: The Inventor of Sugars: And all these, by more certain Tradition, than you have. Then we have divers Inventors of our own of Excellent Works; which since you have not seen, it were too long to make Description of them; And besides, in the right Understanding of those Descriptions, you might easily err. For upon every Invention of Value, we erect a Statue to the Inventor, and give him a Liberal and Honourable Reward. These Statues are, some of Brass; some of Marble and Touchstone; some of Cedar and other special Woods gilded and adorned; some of Iron, some of Silver, some of Gold.  
We have certain Hymns and Services, which we say daily, of Laud and Thanks to God for his Marvellous Works; And Forms of Prayers, imploring his Aid and Blessing for the Illumination of our Labours; the end turning them into Good and Holy Uses.  
Lastly, we have Circuits or Visits of divers Principal Cities of the Kingdom; whereas it cometh to pass, that we do publish such new profitable Inventions as we think good. And we do also declare Natural Divinations of Diseases, Plagues, Swarms of Hurtful Creatures, Scarcity, Tempest, Earthquakes, Great Inundations, Comets, Temperature of the Year, and divers other things; And we give Counsel thereupon what the People shall do for the prevention and Remedy of it.  
And when he had said this, He stood up, And I, as I had been taught, kneeled down: and he laid his right hand upon my Head, and said, God bless thee my Son, and God bless this relation which I have made. I give thee leave to publish it, for the good of other Nations; For we are in God's Bosom, a Land unknown. And so he left me; Having assigned a value of about two thousand Ducats, for a Bounty to me and my fellows. For they give great Largesses, where they come, upon all occasions.   

The Impressa of Mr. Bushels Golden Medal.  
 depiction of Thomas Bushell's medal of Francis Bacon FRA BACON VICECO S CT ALBAN ANGLIAE CANCEL DEUS EST QVI CLAUSA RECLUDIT THO BUSHEL  
THe Lord St Alban's Atlantis is a Magazine of compendious (but sublime) documents to enrich a Commonwealth with universal Notions, as far above a vulgar capacity, as the Empyreal Heavens are the Earth; for which cause himself styled it his Solomon's house, or six day's work: But the way to advance a proportionable Revenue (proposed by his Philosophical Theory) to accomplish the vast design of such a Magnificent Structure, without a Prince's Purse, will seem as abstruse to some acute apprehensions, as the immortal descent of the Soul to animate the Embryon in the Womb: yet if any responsible persons are incredulous of Mr. bushel's proceed to perfect the said Lords Philosophical Theory in Mineral discoveries, according to his undertake, let them, or any other that have heretofore given him credit upon the late King's score, or his own, repair to the assurance Office at the Royal Exchange, where they shall have tendered (by Friends of his) Medals of Gold, by way of Mart, to raise 1000 l. per week, according to the tenor of a Bill expressed at large in his Abridgement of the Lord Chancellor Bacon's mineral Prosecutions, so soon as it is settled in Parliament for their encouragement, and himself hath liberty to attend Providence in the success.   
FINIS.   

Postscript to the Judicious Reader.  
READER,  
IF thou hast perused the foregoing Treatise of the Isle of Bensalem, wherein the Philosophical Father of Solomon's House doth perfectly demonstrate my Heroic Masters (the Lord Chancellor Bacon's) design, for the benefit of mankind; then give me leave to tell thee, how far that illustrious Lord proceeded in the practical part of such his Philosophical Notions, and when and where they had their first rise, as well as their first Eclipse; their first rise (as I have heard him say) was from the noble nature of the Earl of Essex's affection and so they were clouded by his fall, although he bequeathed to that Lord (upon his presenting him with a secret curiosity of Nature, whereby to know the season of every hour of the year by a Philosophical Glass, placed (with a small proportion of Water) in his Chamber,) Twitnam Park, and its Garden of Paradise, to study in. But the sudden change of his Royal Mistress' countenance, acting so Tragical a part upon his only friend, and her once dearest Favourite, he likewise yielded his Law-studies as lost, despairing of any preferment from the present State, as by many of his Letters in his Book of Remains appears, so that he retired to his Philosophy for some few months, from whence he presented the then rising Sun (Prince Henry) with an experiment of his second Collections, to know the heart of Man by a sympathising stone, made of several mixtures, and ushered in the conceit with this ensuing discourse: Most Royal Sir, Since you are by birth the Prince of our Country, and your virtues the happy pledge to our posterity; and that the signory of Greatness is ever attended more with flatterers, than faithful Friends, and loyal Subjects; and therefore needeth more helps to discern and pry into the hearts of the People, than private persons. Give me leave noble Sir, as small Rivulets run to the vast Ocean to pay their tribute; so let me have the honour to show your Highness the Operative quality of these two triangular stones (as the first fruits of my Philosophy) to imitate the pathetical motion of the Loadstone and Iron, although made up by the Compounds of Meteors, (as Star-shot jelly and other like magical ingredients, with the reflected beams of the Sun, on purpose, that the warmth distilled unto them through the moist heat of the hand, might discover the affection of the heart, by a visible sign of their attraction and appetite to each other, like the hand of a Watch, within ten minutes after they are laid upon a marble Table, or the Theatre of a Looking-glass. I writ not this as a feigned story, but as a real truth; for I was never quiet in mind till I had procured those Jewels of my Lord's Philosophy from Mr. Archy Primrose, the Prince's Page. But the sudden death of that Prince give new cause of sorrow (to the whole Nation, as well as) to that Lord; whereupon his Lordship dedicated his Advancement of Learning to his Brother Charles, the surviving Prince; and to his prudent Father King james his Novum Organum, who so much approved of his transcendent knowledge, and singular eloquence, as in his Royal Wisdom he made him Lord Chancellor during life, and Lord Protector during his absence in his Scotish Progress, and though this eminent greatness gave many advantages to envious tongues, yet when his Lordship had revealed the most mysterous parts of his Philosophy to his Master the King, and delivered him his opinion concerning the disposition of Mr. Suttons charity (expressed also in his Remains) he thereby so indulged his Majesty's Genius, as he prevailed with him to call a Parliament, chief for his Majesties own pressing occasions, and to confirm this Academy of learning in his way of Mining, by an Act of State, upon hopes of perfecting all other expenseful trials by the said Revenue, and to that purpose his Lordship had prepared the heads of a Speech to the said Parliament, which were as followeth.  
My Lords and Gentlemen, the King my Royal Master was lately (graciously) pleased to move some discourse to me concerning Mr. Suttons Hospital, and such like worthy foundations of memorable piety, which humbly seconded by myself, drew his Majesty into a serious consideration of the Mineral Treasures of his own Territories, and the practical discoveries of them by way of my Philosophical Theory: which he then so well resented, that afterwards (upon a mature digestion of my whole design) he commanded me to let your Lordships understand, how great an inclination he hath to farther such a hopeful work, for the Honour of his own Dominions and the public good, as the most probable means to relieve all the poor thereof, without any other stock or benevolence than that which divine bounty should confer on their own industries and honest labours, in recovering all such drowned Mineral works as have been or shall be therefore deserted.  
And my Lords, all that is now desired from his Majesty and your Lordship, is no more than a gracious Act of this present Parliament to authorize them therein, adding a mercy to a munificence, which is, the persons of such strong and able petty Felons, who in true penitence for their Crimes, shall implore his Majesty's mercy, and permission to expiate their offences by their assiduous labours, in so innocent and hopeful a work.  
For by this unchargeable way, my Lords, have I proposed to erect the Academical fabric of this Islands Solomons-House, modelled in my new Atlantis; And I can hope my Lords that my midnight studies to make our Country's flourish, and outvie European neighbours in mysterious and beneficent Arts, have not so ingratefully affected your noble intellects, that you will delay or resist his Majesty's desires, and my humble Petition in this benevolent, yea, magnificent affair, since your honourable posterities may be enriched thereby, and my ends are only to make the world my Heir, and the learned Fathers of my Solomons-House, the successive and sworn trusties in the dispensation of this great service for God's glory, my Princes magnifice, this Parliaments honour, our Country's general good, and the propagation of my own memory. And I may assure your Lordships, that all my proposals in order to this great Architype, seemed so rational and feisable to my Royal Soveragin our Christian Solomon, that I thereby prevailed with his Majesty to call this Honourable Parliament to confirm and empower me in my own way of Mining, by an Act of the same, after his Majesties more weighty affairs were considered in your wisdoms: both which he desires your Lordships, and you Gentlemen that are chosen as the Patriots of your respective Countries, to take speedy care of, which done, I shall not then doubt the happy issue of my undertake in this design; whereby concealed Treasures which now seem utterly lost to mankind, shall be confined to so universal a piety, and brought into use by the industry of converted Penitents, whose wretched Carcases the impartial Laws have or shall dedicate as untimely feasts to the worms of the earth, in whose womb those deserted Mineral riches must ever lie buried as lost abortments unless those be made the active Midwives to deliver them. For my Lords, I humbly conceive them to be the fittest of all men to effect this great work, for the ends and causes which I have before expressed.  
All which, my Lords, I humbly refer to your grave and solid Judgements to conclude of, together with such other assistances to this frame as your own oraculous wisdom shall intimate, for the magnifying our Creator in his inscrutable providence and admirable works of Nature.  
But before this could be accomplished to his own content, there arose such complaints against his Lordship, and the than Favourite at Court, that for some days put the King to this Quere, whether he should permit the Favourite of his affection, or the Oracle of his Counsel to sink in his service? whereupon his Lordship was sent for by the King, who after some discourse, gave him this positive advice, to submit himself to his House of Peers, and that (upon his Princely word) he would then restore him again, if they (in their honours) should not be sensible of his merits; Now though my Lord foresaw his approaching ruin, and told his Majesty there was little hopes of mercy in a multitude, when his Enemies were to give fire, if he did not plead for himself, yet such was his obedience to him from whom he had his being, that he resolved, his Majesty's will should be his only Law, and so took leave of him, with these words, Those that will strike at your Chancellor (its much to be feared) will strike at your Crown; and wished that as he was then the first, so he might be the last of Sacrifices. Soon after (according to his Majesty's commands) he wrote a submissive letter to the House, and sent me to my Lord Windsor to know the result, which I was loath at my return to acquaint him with, for, alas! his Sovereign's favour was not in so high a measure, but he (like the Phoenix) must be sacrificed in flames of his own raising, and so perished (like Icarus) in that his lofty design, the great revenue of his Office being lost; and his Titles of Honour saved but by the Bishop's Votes; whereto he replied, That he was only bound to thank his Clergy; the thunder of which fatal sentence did much perplex my troubled thoughts, as well as others, to see that famous Lord, who procured his Majesty to call this Parliament, must be the first subject of their revengeful wrath; and that so unparallelled a Master should be thus brought upon the public stage for the foolish miscarriages of his own servants, whereof (with grief of heart) I confess myself to be one. Yet shortly after, the King dissolved the Parliament, but never restored that matchless Lord to his place; which made him then to wish the many years he had spent in State-policy and Law-study, had been solely devoted to true Philosophy: for (said he) the one at best doth but comprehend man's frailty in its greatest splendour, but the other the mysterious knowledge of all things created in the six day's work. Wherefore considering his fatherlike favours to my undeservings, expressed in my confession to the honourable Council, and knowing the Library he left to the world, viz.  
His great work entitled, Instauratio Magna, an admirable piece, containing  
First, de Augmentis Scientiarum, or his advancement of Learning, in nine Books, written in Latin, and dedicated to King Charles, than Prince of Wales.  
Secondly, Novum organum, sive Judica vera de interpretatione naturae, written in Latin and dedicated to King James.  
Thirdly, Sylva Sylvarum, or his Natural History, his New Atlantis, his History of Life and Death, & historia ventorum, all dedicated to King Charles by D. Rawley, sometimes his Lordship's Chaplain.  
Sermons fideles sive interioria rerum, otherwise called his Essays, dedicated to the Duke of Buckingham.  
De sapientia veterum, or the wisdom of the Ancients, dedicated to the Earl of Salisbury (Lord Treasurer, and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge) and to the University, a double dedication, which was afterwards translated by Sir Arthur Gorges, and dedicated to the Queen of Bohemia.  
Dialogus de Bello Sacro, dedicated to Lancelot Andrews Bishop of Winchester.  
The History of Henry the Seventh, dedicated to K. Charles.  
His Elements of the Law.  
Resuscitatio, certain excellent Discourses, Letters, and the like, being his Remains, set forth by the said Doctor Rawley.  
A Manual of Devotions, entitled Comfortable Crumbs of refreshment, by Prayers, Meditations, Consolations, and Ejaculations, with a confession of Faith, published by the aforesaid worthy and faithful Doctor Rawley, Doctor in Divinity, and one of his Majesty's Chaplains.  
I willingly then betook myself to that penance of solitude, imposed me by his Lordship's Fatherly advice, (as is expressed in my Letter to my fellow Prisoners for Debt) before I should dare to attempt any of his Mineral ●rust, formerly consigned me by the favour of his affection (as doth more at large appear in my humble Remonstrance to the Honourable Council;) the which for three years I strictly kept, as if obliged by a Religious Vow; from whence I was grown so sensible of other men's suffering restraint for Conscience sake, as I procured the liberty of many Jesuit Priests, Anabaptists, Brownists, Familists of love, Adamites, and one of the Rosie-Crucians, whose humility and knowledge I much admired, conceiving it (in my weak judgement) very hard measure for any mortal to punish such with imprisonment, when those that committed them could not warrant to save their souls, though they might protect their persons, which last is the only cause of our allegiance to a Sovereign power. But then finding another desolate Cell of Nature's rarities at the head of a Spring near my own House in Oxfordshire, which my Conscience gave me was allotted by Providence to retard my intended travels, I (in imitation of that excellent Lords sublime fancy) beautyfied the same with the Ornaments of contemplative Groves & Walks, as well as artificial Thunder and Lightning, Rain, Hail-showers, Drums beating, Organs playing, Birds singing, Waters murmuring, the Dead arising, Lights moving, Rainbows reflecting with the beams of the Sun, and watery showers springing from the same Fountain; these were then my sole Companions, and speechless Preachers to inform me without trusting to the broken staff of faithless men. And to free myself from the trouble of any Cook, I observed my Lord's prescription, to satisfy nature with a Diet of Oil, Honey, Mustard, Herbs and Biscuit, my Drink Water, like those long-lifed Fathers before the Food; where the late King finding me in this posture, and by my then discourse in commemoration of my old Master, conceived me capable (with the help of that Lords Philosophy) to do him some more acceptable service in Mineral discoveries (for the Honour of the Nation) than the collation I made him of his own native silver, upon his second visiting that Rock the year following.  
But let me tell you, before these Philosophical trials of natural causes could be brought to any perfection, I with patience endured all reproaches of malicious minds, and woar the fools coat in the repute of men more ready to condemn, than examine; yet had not Lawsuits arose upon my successes in Mineral discoveries, and the late Wars intervened, with the commands of the King to attend his motion therein, (which occasioned my proceed for sixteen years to be lost) I presume, providence (without any partner) had enabled me to give incredulous persons a plenary satisfaction of that Lords unparallelled abilities, the mere fame of whose unlimited bounty and nobleness of mind, did so much incline my affections to serve him, at the first sight, as I was never satisfied till (by my own address, without intercession of others) he admitted me his servant, that so I might (from my own experience) give account of his merits, when I traveled into foreign parts. But (I must confess) I never so much admired his universal knowledge in his prosperity, as in his adversity; for in the one (without flattery) I discovered his seeming ends were no more, than to aspire to popular greatness in Princes Courts, and so gain the Trophy of that Honour to his Name; but in the other I found his soaring thoughts were so much above the World, as the Earth is beneath Heaven, that had I been Heir to the greatest Dukedom on Earth, I would have made a dedication of it all to have had his Age doubled in this time of his profound and Divine Philosophical observations, for then his Judgement plainly concluded, that all was vanity, and that he that was wise in his own conceit, there was more hope of a Fool than of him, Saying daily to me and others, That the knowledge a man was to learn whereby to save his Soul, and magnify the Creator, was included in these two words, Love and Charity, And that those volumes written by the Dictates of the holy Ghost were but explanations of their sense. But to speak of the general practice of the world, from his own observation, he was sparing, because (as I conceive) by former discourse, that he found it to be but an apparent Cheat, even from the highest to the lowest, according to their capacities in their several callings. For than his deep intellectuals were so frequent in foretelling things to come, as he gave me not only the divination and predictions of many future events of Kings and States, Arts and Sciences, but advised me to observe the reasons thereupon, by his Divine Philosophical Theory, and yet not to divulge them as his, until those notions observed by himself should come to pass, which was to kn●w whether Minerals at their lowest level of the Mountains did increase in quality and quantity, and whether the eye by inspection through a prospective Glass, might not take the longitude and latitude of its object many miles distant in as large a manner as the sight alone doth contract itself at a smaller, (for by those principles of his) upon the same natural causes, it seems, do depend matters of greater moment, which are left to the practical trials of his six Philosophers to collect and add to his natural History, and this I can assure you, by the report of an honest Gentleman, and discreet person, is now completed in Holland, to the admiration of all men. In a word (Gentle Reader) had I no more to do than to mollify the hardest Rocks, undermine Mountains, drain their waters, discover their Minerals, separate their qualities, and (by that Lord's Philosophy) to make this Northern Climate a second Indies for honour and profit, I should then think my burden light in doing my Country service. But (to say truth) I am to encounter (in pursuit of that Lords design (with the subterranean spirits) which are (supposed) the Guardians of all concealed treasures) and their evil Complices, wicked men, who prove to me more obnoxious, and greater Remoras in the ways of their perverse natures, than any of those infernal Spirits can be: for by a contrite heart, humble Prayer, and industrious labour, I can conjure the one to a due obedience; but (I fear) whole hosts of men will not be able to qualify the barbarous condition of the other, so that (Courteous Reader) if (upon this result) you plead not my cause, and secure me from men's fraudulent practices, when I have brought such treasures to public sight, I shall expect no success for my honest Creditors satisfaction, nor so great a blessing to follow, for the good of the Nation.  
And now having given you (for the most part) an account of the Lord Bacon's retardments in his Mineral Philosophy, and my own last obstructions occasioned by the late Wars, give me leave to tell you what my Lord gave me in charge by way of caution, which was;  
First, To beware of those people who are so selfconceited, as they think nothing is well done, if they have not an interest by their vote therein; lest they make their revenge upon this Mineral design; witness (faith that Lord) the loss of the West-Indies upon that score.  
Secondly, That Lord charged me not to intermeddle with any trial of curiosity in his or any others man's Philosophy, whereby to prejudice my purse, lose my time, or put myself to trouble, until I had compassed a considerable revenue (by his notions) & an infallible assurance of its daily increase by undermining those loads of Metal, and separating their qualities; and yet not then neither but by the help of those six Philosophers mentioned in the foregoing Treatise, after they are settled to that service, sworn to secrecy, and taking his Theorical directions also to be considered in their own practices: for how have the wisest men (saith he) consumed vast Estates through their covetous desires to be great in the transmuting of Metals, and the knowledge of the sympathy of minds at a distance, aswell as curing of wounds with having but sight of the weapon that hurt the p●rty? for (saith he) repentance cannot then follow, nor thy ignorance be blamed, when providence bears the purse, and such prudence waits with industry to try the success of the secrets of nature out of the bountifulness of her own Coffers so discovered.  
Thirdly, That no money should enchant my heart to take a partner, be I never so poor, unless I find his heart inclined to magnify the Creator's glory, and make the poor ma●s box the Heir of his Stewardship, aswell as myself; for else (saith he) thou dost distrust in providence, and so the others money will be but thy ruin at l●st, like a house divided, which cannot stand.  
Fourthly, That I should be careful to prefer such poor fatherless Children that intent to sacrifice the flower of their youth to the service of God, and resolve so to continue to their death, for the good of others aswell as themselves.  
Fifthly, To be cautious of having any thing to do with a Miner that is an habitual drunkard, swea●er or liar, for his custom of sinning may infe●t many others and it is contrary to all divine Philosophy, to seek to magnify God's Glory with such Creatures, when no hopes of a blessing can follow their actions.  
Sixthly, Have a c●re (saith that Lord) you place such a person to be Steward of your Mines u●der ground, whose remorse for sin makes him so sensible of sorrow and hame for his errors, as that he desires to live in contrition within the caverns of rocks, and not to behold other light than of a candle, to labour and help his contemplation in such an Abyss; fo● that Lo●d was wont to say, the blind once restored to sight, illuminates the Creator's mercy more than any other Creature, and is of my own experience, the best Philosophical step to the mortification of the mind, by attracting the defects of us mortals that are prone to such habitual errors.  
Seventhly, (saith he) do not punish any offendor by the superior Officer, but as shall be judged by a Jury of penitential souls of their own Tribe; for (saith he) if civil usage cannot make the heart strike the blow, aswell as the hand, severity should never force a builder of his Solomon's house, since it is barbarous for a Christian to behold the Image of God used like a Dog.  
Eighthly, He wished me not to search after new Mines until I knew the Meanders, wind and depths of the old, with the natures of the Quarries they lodge in, by the way of that direction he gave me; for otherwise he said I should verify the old Proverb, to look for a needle in a bottle of Hay, having no probable rules to guide me, but my own will, which could not prosper, nor be coherent with God's word, until I denied myself that privilege; yet in the mean time, that I should make some public Declaration from a place certain, to relieve the poor of all such parishes where Spars and shades of Mines are found through ploughing the barren grounds, or by ditchers labours, when notice be given thereof, to be wrought at my own charge. But be sure (said he) have a care that you come into no man's ground (although you have power from the King and Parliament) until you have acquainted him of your intended adventures, for the common good, and of the poor of the parish, at your own charge; for leave is said to be light, and do as you would be done by: yet if he will neither work himself, nor give his consent to you paying double trespass, as the next Justice of peace shall judge, go by his door, for thou hast done thy duty, when thou hast acquainted the supreme power wherein the remora lieth, that the poor are not relieved, nor the riches of the Commonwealth discovered.  
Ninethly, That no Grant should go under my hand (if I gained the whole power of that trust) but with such restrictions, limitations and provisoes, as he had left me in charge; for by that means men would buckle to their work and go faster on with their discoveries, when thou hast the honour of pre-emption of he place from the King and State.  
Tenthly, That I should be cautelous of not coveting riches, nor mindful of vainglorious pleasures; but above all, not to disquiet my Conscience with the ingratitude of any wicked acts, for the mystery of divine Philosophy will not admit of any of those to have a share in such a blessing.  
But (Gentle Reader) fearing there might be a grand Inquest to sit upon that Lords unparallelled judgement, for trusting this transcendent Mineral work to my weak capacity, and decline his nearest kindred, as well as the greatest Scholars, I shall unfold the riddle of his conception, and leave the resolution for your wisdom to judge of. And yet I must be forced before I enter upon such a Subject, to observe the rule of that great Ambassador the Lord Gundamor, who was known never to move any weighty affairs of his Master the King of Spain to King james, but what he ushered in with some Spanish story, and left the application to the prudency of his Princely consideration, from whence (if it may not be thought tedious or troublesome) I shall tell you a true English passage, which sprang from the saying of my Lord Bacon, That he conceived civil courtesies were seldom conferred on suffering persons, but that they ever wore the badge of contempt, and were the scorn of the rich, and scarcely pitied of the poor, the application being alluded by his Lordship to my own prodigal expenses; and observing his precepts as oracles, I took it so much to heart, that in the prime of my youth, and flourishing fortune in his affection, I forced my will to change the Scene of Court pleasure in his service, to a Cottagers habit and low condition, lest I should be surprised with the frowns of indigent fortune to my greater shame, before such a preparation might be had to encounter those storms that are incident to such natural causes, and so meet them half way by affecting the low condition of a fisherman's life, and his honest calling, as a step to greater perfection to know myself. From whence after some few months spent in this humble way of life, to read the Histories of those great Princes and most magnificent Commanders which had surfited with all inconstant pleasures and vain glorious pomp, voluntarily descended from their Crowns and Conquests into the deserts of so desolate Cells, solitary Groves, and imprisoned themselves in monasteries as the fittest preparative to the other world's felicity; I met with an old man near the Needles in the Isle of Wight, and ask of him som●●…stions of his sad condition, he gave me to understand, that his ●…sion was a Beggar by descent, saying, that his Father before him was one, and born so lame by a natural cause, as the same grief became hereditary to himself being his only son, which he willingly embraced as a Legacy given him from a divine Power, ever since his deceased Father had assured him, that he which was bo●n lame, blind, or deaf, was a true Beggar to ask in Christ's behalf the charity of the rich, and that they should be the only witnesses of their Stewardship at their general account; and not any of those whose poverty proceeded from their prodigal expense or lascivious behaviour, to deter others from the like of their own shame, for they were but marked out as the living Statues, and to show God's Mercy if they did truly repent, as well as his Justice in increasing their punishment if they did not: This divine and canting language from a Beggar's Scrip (saith he) is the down right Documents we hold in the head Council of our Fraternity, which made me then to be so much in love with his company and condition, ask him another question, Whether he was really contented in his heart with his poverty, without repining at other men's prosperity, when he was denied at their door the poor man's alms to relieve his necessities, although he said his Prayers for the same in Christ name? who modestly replied, There was a God above well knew, he never envied any man's greatness, nor wished to change his hourly affliction for rheir daily felicities, by reason (as he said) his own account would be the more easy to make at the general Judgement, than the others that live in variety of pleasures. His upper and nether garments were left as a legacy from his Father, and recruited by the constant Drapery of every hedges, and that the care of his Summer's harvest was no more than by daily prayers, God's providence, and the Alms of others, to purchase a pair of high shoes against the winter storms and dirty ways, by selling the worth of two pence for a penny to those poor widows known by him to be next to his own degree of Beggary. Night growing on, I gave him a half-faced groat to beget his further acquaintance, and to increase his stock towards purchasing his content therein, which he so thankfully took (after I told him Providence had given me the value of the Sum in a draught of fish the day before) that he promised me a visit, and I another day's labour upon the same score, For know (sweet Reader) his homespun discourse was so pleasing to my solitude, as the Soul and Body never struggled more with their diversor death, than I did in my own reason to spend some hours of time in his society, and to that purpose made my humble addresses to my quondum Master by the ensuing Letter.  
My only Lord, observing your precepts as Oracles, th●… 〈◊〉 prodigality continued it would be certainly rewarded with reproach and poverty, I did upon second thoughts think fit in the first step to my amendment to become a fisherman's Cottager from your princely service, rather than such high obstructions should remain in me by connivency, to the years of old age, and to embrace rather the conversation of a Beggar's society, w●th h●s Principles here enclosed, which I look upon as the shepherd's star to g●id, my perverse will in the rules of reason: for since my profuse carriage did sway me so much, as I could not withstand a temptation, when I beheld the object of evil, but rather grew to be worse and worse, I am resolved now to become your Lordship's Beadsman in some solitary Cell, and endeavour to make myself worthy of your Honour's command, in the other world  
Longing more to meet with this Beggar again,, than the Mistress of my heart, when I acted the Scholars part in Cupid's Schoof. Sunday month after he came to the Church Porch to hear public prayer, where myself being placed upon a form by my friend the Fisherman, the lot of providence drove my next Neighbour to his devotion, and yet (such was his humility, that) I could not persuade him to sit down by me, but the morning service being shortly after completed, I shook him by the hand as I went out of the Church, which caused some persons of quality that were behind me to ask him particular questions, how we came to be acquainted? who cried me so much up for my familiar discourse, and giving him a half-faced groat, that the better sort took me for such a spy (disguised) as heretofore had attempted the betraying that Island to the French; and in order to the same Inquest, the prime Gentleman of the parish invited the Fisherman and his wife to supper, and to bring me along with them; where after a civil treatment, he gave me to understand what had passed betwixt the said Beggar of Beggars and himself, concerning the deportment of my carriage. But I (unwilling to be known) kept my thoughts to those principles agreed on between me and the Fisherman, as his Kinsman; howsoever he informed me what the fame of the Country was upon my being in such a remote Cottage, and giving the Beggar a groat in the poor habit I wore, the which if I would but relate to him the truth of my coming thither, no man should be more my servant than himself, saying, That it might be possible for public distastes to cause private resolutions in the heart of the greatest persons; and therefore (if it might be suitable to my own reason to unfold the cause, and make him of my Cabinet Council) the interest he had as Lord of the place, I should command, without the least prejudice to myself, or fear of invading those composures of my quiet. For which great courtesy I kindly thanked him, but withal told him, That if he desired my name, and the occasion of my repose, it would not be in his power to do me a private civility; for being once known, the place of my residence would be then as obnoxious to my mind, as it was now pleasing to my senses, and therefore to be forward in searching more after me, were to disoblige a stranger that coveted his acquaintance; for if I were a person of that quality as he conceived, his silence might make me grateful upon the score of his own merit. And so parting upon those hopes to have his honest Neigbourhood and best assistance, I went to meet the old Beggar with a cheerful heart at the place appointed, and discoursing of our former subject over a Collation I made him of Bread and Cheese, he then told me, that he and his comrades had not only the same diet every night before they went to Bed in their spacious Barn of straw, (consigned them by the Christian charity of some honest Farmer, or good Freeholder) but after a thankful remembrance to the All-disposer, they had a repetition of the present times, and the bounty of rich men's Tables, as well as the mock-Beggars Palaces, giving their verdict as canonical amongst the sage Beggars by inspection from their own observation, what must become of their actions and issue that, quoth he, live by oppression and in pleasures; whereof (yo●ng man) I must tell you, my Father was held a great ginger for those hidden mysteries in the Beggar's fraternity, although his education had no other Tutorship than 76 years' experience under the green Canopy of summer hedges, (called the Beggar's College) in moonshiny nights, (and as I take it) the Shepherd's Calendar went no further with them in the literal sense of Astrology, than the cognisance of all Creatures behaviours in their lives and deaths; intimating once a month as a general Lector to our memory, that nothing more of learning was required from us mortals, but the glory of humility and obedience. Which caused me to propose this question, Whether his mind was not addicted to the same study of his father's Collections, or whether they were buried in his own Sepulchre? Who with a sigh and sobbing heart, told me in short, It was his greatest grief, for he had nothing of the book but seven Prayers, for every day in the week one: A●d yet (young man) said he, if you have a desire to see fashions in a Beggar's habit, as well as in the gay clothes of the World's converse, I will conduct you to the acquaintance of those persons that were of repute with my father, and of such singular documents and principles, without worldly ends, as they in short time will make you heir to the tract of their knowledge in moral virtues, if they find by your physiognomy and carriage, an inclination of yours to do good to the sad condition of their own tribe, as well as to yourself, and indoctrinate the rest by winnowing the chaff from the corn, the good from the bad. For we have most commonly once a week in our Barn, Gypsies, Bedlams, and all sorts of lazy Vagabonds, which we conceive i● the poor and honest Beggar's purgatory, and a great trial of his human patience, when such a misery is added to his poverty; there being all degrees of professions from the highest to the lowest that come within the verge of our Beggar's assembly, to give us an abstract of the rest of the family, as well as the occasion that brought them to our acquaintance; and then we commonly show them their pedigree from the Usurer's book, the Lawyer's library, the Courtier's chea●, the Countrymen fraud, the Merchant's falsity, and what sprang from their own exorbitant fooleries, when and where came the curse to them of such a desolation, and how to salve the same from despair of God's mercy, which ever attends their consciences in such wicked actions.  
I had no sooner received the Epitome of those Beggar's pilgrimages in a far larger measure than is here expressed, but I began to contemplate upon the happiness I should receive, if a Summer's progress were spent in such a service, that was called by him the Charnel-house of the living being buried alive; because it was observed, that some of every family had always their recourse to this impregnable Citadel of misery, that can and must hold out (as he did aver) to the last man: Which considerations brought me then to lo●th myself, and the whole World's Commerce, for his solid society. But some ten days after I was summoned by the Governor of that Island upon the old score of a Spy; Where giving him the same account as before expressed, in answer to his Queries, I found him so rigidly bend to make me his prisoner, as I was forced to put on the disguise of a discontented Lover, and to implore the intercession of three virtuous and amiable Ladies that were accidentally present, letting them know, that I had lost the Mistress of my heart by death, which is Nature's Sergeant, a month before, and could not assuage that passion of affection remaining with me in remembrance of her fidelity, unless I should inter myself in her Tomb, or use this means of so itude to ease my groaning spirit and oppressed mind, hoping their compassionate natures wou●d favour me with their pi●ies, and palliate the Governors' fury through their familiar acquaintance, if they had ever been in Love themselves, or did believe there was such a prevalent power in that passion after the death of his or her dearly beloved Friend. From whence, with joint consent, they risen up like Lightning, tore the Warrant made for my Commitment, saying, It were impossible for such expressions of fervent love to proceed from so simple a fellow as I did seem to be, but that it must be the cause of my obscurity, and not any other affinity to the nature of a Spy, than contemplating on her memory that was dead to the world, though living to myself.  
But his hard heart being frozen with age from any such affection, signed another warrant to secure my person his prisoner, which made me then disclose my name, and whose servant I was, with contempt to his power. Dinner then coming in. I took my leave, saying to the Ladies, That the Mistress I meant to harbour in my breast, as my only companion in this solitude, was to exchange the habitual errors of my youth for virtuous acts; And though the place can now afford me (being known) no other content than shame, yet the Mother should sooner forget her Child, than I their noble civilities, and to that purpose I would wait upon them in another habit towards my Journey to London: where giving my quondam Master an account with the reason of my revolt, he said, It shown I was lukewarm in my Devotion, when I was ashamed of such an innocent profession; howsoever he seemed glad of my return, and said, If he were assured of my perseverance to endeavour the Mastery of myself, he would trust me in the secrets of his Mineral design before any Kinsman or Scholar of his acquaintance; being jealous (as I conceive from his following discourse) that the one might be careless or covetous, and the other arrogate the whole honour to himself, although Divine Providence gave the increase, and inspired that Lord's Philosophy to make the model from such a promiscuous Chaos as drowned Minerals and Condemned men, hoping by their conversions to do the work for Gods greater glory, and his own more perpetual honour.  
The Moral of which truth in trying a retired life, confirmed by my Lords trust, and my perseverance in the like way, induced the late King to grant me not only my own desires in the Mines, Mint and Customs, but afterwards his Majesty was confined to Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight, where (amongst other Discourses with which some of his Attendants entertained him) he was assured of the truth of this passage between myself and the Beggar, he called to mind a Treatment I had given him and divers of his Nobility, at my Grotto in Oxfordshire 33. years ago, where one (by my appointment) in the habit of one of those Philosophical Hermits before mentioned in the 28 page of my Lords Atlantis, addressed himself to his Majesty by this ensuing speech, ascending out of the ground, as a prophetic praeludium to the practical discovery of Mineral Treasures, and all mysterious Arts; (for I must tell you, the third year following, I gave him a collation of his own coined Silver newly discovered out of his barren mountains, whereby the utmost grandeur of humane Empire might be completed by such true Hermits if pursued in the like nature) commanded me to ask my Lord Say, whether it might not be possible to have his restraint limited to that place, and not to return to the said Castle any more, giving such of the Nobility as were his friends engaged as Security that he should not go out of the Precincts of that Grotto, nor intermeddle with any State-affairs, until themselves found it expedient for the general good: But this being denied, made me decline the recesses of that solitude.  
And now (gentle Reader) since that Lord in his wisdom conceived it necessary to limit the aforesaid Practice according to the Dictates of his own Theory, I refer myself to your judicious censure; although I confess my simplicity is so great, that I cannot arrogate any thing of knowledge to myself, (which may seem to lessen the merits of that unparallelled Lord) but am like the Mule that bears his Master's Treasure, or a Porter that carries a Letter, yet knows not the worth of its contents. The Moral whereof is this, That the Poor man's Tale may be heard as well as the Rich, and that self-willed persons of self-intere●… may not sway the judgement of a whole state from trying the Divine Mysteries of that Lords Philosophy, lest his Overtrres (penned by his Pupils observation in this foregoing Treatise, for setting the Poor on work, easing the Subjects Tax, and giving the Tenth of what Treasure-trove shall be discovered by such Art, or of Drowned Lands recovered from the Sea, without prejudice to any) should prove witnesses against us in the next age, to the perpetual shame and dishonour of this.  
I writ not this (Gentle Reader) to ingratiate myself into your good opinion for releasing me from imprisonment, or to be restored to the possession of my Estate (according to Articles) lest a Critic, o● self-ended person should carp at the same, and report I had trapan'd the Judgement of a State under the notion of this Treasure; although I am assured that the Parliament and the than Lord General will find their Honours as much imprisoned as my person, when they shall read their own Articles, signed by their General, and confirmed by themselves; which makes me not remove my body by a Habeas Corpus to the upper Bench or Fleet, as others in my condition do, for I find the major part of my just Creditors are satisfied at the s ght of my sufferings, as well as the others are pleased that I do suffer from their severe cruelties; and I pray God the rest of their Estates and reputation do not consume and come to nothing, since they have brought me to this sad condition; for (I assure you) some of them that were actors in ruining my credit by detraction, and had wrested my Estate from me by getting the possession in those times of War, and pleading Outlawries to my Bills of Equity, came to my Bedside when they were sick to death & told me before my servants, that they could not die with a quiet Conscience until they had asked me forgiveness, and so revealed the Plots of others that had a hand in my ruin, wh●…h hath reduced me to a contended mind in the midst of discontent.  
But that which grieves my Soul, is, I fear my Ghost will walk when I am dead, in those shades of Mineral obscurities, to see so matchless a design of my Lord Bacon's Atlantis that is Translated into all Languages for its exquisite contrivancy, & his Mineral Philosophy that was consigned to support its Fabric, should suffer shipwreck through self-interest, when mere Providence in these revolutions and junctures of time hath brought it so far to light, as I dare engage my life, that (out of those drowned works I have now in hand, and many others prescribed by that Lord) I may in the effecting this great Work for my Country's good, vie with the wisdom of a State, the valour of an Army, and the City purses, if Justice permit me to enjoy what Providence shall produce out of those works, provided no other follow the way of my Lord's Mineral experiments, and become my corrival in the deserted works. So that Gentle Reader, I have no more to write, but to end as I begun with the Lord Gondomar's to King James, who said they had a Spanish Proverb. That that man which sought by the ruin of his native Country, to erect a Trophy of honour to his own name, more than to God's glory, was in his conception cursed, his Mother bewitched, and himself nursed with a Tiger. Inferring, that the hands of public persons employed to Noble actions, are his vicegerents upon Earth, in making the world their Heir without ends of their own and so become the truest Stewards of those Talents, which his gracious Providence hath committed to their trust.  
Your faithful friend and humble Servant T. B.   


The Hermit's Speech when he ascended out of the ground, as the King and some of his Nobility entered Mr. Bushels Rock.  
WITH bended knees thus Humbly do I pray,  
You blessed powers, that glorify this day,  
And to my frozen lips have utterance given,  
Speak, O speak the Commands you bring from Heaven!  
For by times Emblem that since Noah's flood  
I thus have grasped, my Soul hath understood,  
The world no farther journey hath to sail  
Than is betwixt the Serpent's head, and tail.  
If then before the Earth's great funeral,  
Most glorious SIR, you hit her come to call  
The Inmates of this solitary place  
To strict account, for Heaven sake deign the grace  
To lend your patience, and a Gentle ear  
To what I ought to speak, and you may hear:  
A Prodigal profuse in vast expense,  
That nothing studied, but to please his sense,  
Trimming a glorious outside, whilst within  
He cherished nought but propagating sin,  
That multiplied so fast, there was no place  
Allowed for virtue, or for saving grace;  
God of his mercy pleased was at last  
A glorious Eye upon his Soul to cast,  
Which being so near a final rack as now,  
His only care, his study is, but how  
He may redeem the years he lost in sin,  
And live as he to live now did begin.  
What followed next, must be conceived of course,  
Confession, contrition, and remorse,  
These guides to Heaven he happily pursued,  
Viewed his past life, and that again reviewed:  
And to that end he purchased at a price  
This field, then sterile, now his Paradise;  
Where he, as man of old by God being bound,  
With Adam, wrought, and digged, and dressed the ground:  
Here are no Rivers such as Eden had,  
Nor were there banks with trees or flowers clad  
T'invite a stay, the Owl, not Philomela  
Within this solitary place did dwell.  
And I, the Genius of this obscure Cave  
Since the great deluge, lived as in a grave,  
Chained to this Rock, my Tombstone in despair  
Of freedom, or to view such beams, as are  
Shot from your Virtues: All my days were night,  
Until the humble Owner brought to light  
These eyes of mine, and forced great Nature show  
This Masterpiece, a grace she did not owe  
To any age before; and sooth to say,  
I think it was created 'gainst this day.  
If then ye be the God of Britain's earth,  
And rule this Isle (as sure you are by birth)  
Vouchsafe a blessing, such a one as may  
Preserve this Rock, my mansion, from decay,  
For envy would expel me from my home,  
And sink me in the ruins of my own.  
But let the true Professor, to whom Heaven  
For pure devotion sake the place hath given,  
Let him in Peace enjoy it, that he may  
Build Altars here, and daily offerings pay  
For his preservers health, grant this, and then  
I that lived long with stones, will live with men,  
And think the Golden Age is now begun,  
In which no injuries are meant or done:  
Such Innocents' as yet remain with us  
That do inhabit here, and humbly thus  
We mean to live, having no other fare  
Than uncurst water, uncorrupted air.  
Vouchsafe to enter, and you here shall find  
Nothing but what may please a displeased mind.  
My bold Commission's done, and I return  
Down to my humble grave, my peaceful urn.   

The Hermit's Contemplation upon the Rock.  
GReat Nature, had I not a Soul, that spies  
A greater Power enthron'd above the skies,  
I should I adore thee, and should Idolise  
This Masterpiece of thine, and sacrifice  
The fat of Bullocks to thy memory:  
But we forbidden are to defy  
What may be seen; since that it is revealed  
The face of what's Divine must be concealed  
From mortal eyes, until that greatest light  
Be quite put out that severs day from night.  
Where are the Muses, that were wont to sing  
Their well-tuned notes about Parnassus' spring?  
Where is that Master Piece of Poets now,  
That had a Laurel wreath to crown each brow?  
Where are those Paperspoilers, that can part  
With many sheets to paint out painted Art  
In praising faces, features such as be  
In beauty poor, if once compared to thee?  
Shall I not think the world on's dead-bed lies,  
And summoned to his funeral obsequies,  
The Souls departed hence, when thus I see  
Nature unlock her richest Treasury,  
And in this doting Age discover more  
Than in six thousands years that passed before?  
You, that can sequester yourself from men,  
And buried be alive in Cave, or Den,  
In hollow Rock, or in defart a Grove,  
That the sad note of murmuring water love;  
I'll bring you to a Rock, that for its pleasure  
The Indies cannot purchase with their Treasure,  
Where none but Virgin-silence liveth there,  
And sweetest Music charms the chastest ear;  
The fountains time do keep to birds that sing,  
And on the plain song uttered by each spring  
The airy Choristers division run;  
The solid Rock that various streams hath spun  
Even into strings as small as smallest wire,  
Seems to consort, and so make up a choir,  
Such as the holy Virgins sweetly raise  
When they choice Hymns do sing on holy days.  
So that devotion here is kept on wing,  
And rather raised, than checked by whispering  
Of springs with Rocks, or Rocks with light-heeled streams.  
Night swims away in rest, the day in dreams,  
So that the watchful Hermit needs no Clock,  
There are perpetual Chymes within this Rock,  
That will not let his contemplation sleep:  
Would he be sad? there he may learn to weep  
Of every object offered to his eye;  
The humble pavement never shall be dry,  
But moistened still, with tears that there are shed,  
From the rich fountain of the Rocks curled head.  
This my Prophetic Soul foretells shall be,  
ENSTON, the honour, that shall dwell with thee.   

A Sonnet within the Pillar of the Table at the Banquet.  

COme away blessed Soul, no more  
Feed your eyes with what is poor,  
'Tis enough that you have blest  
What was rude, what was undressed,  
And created in a trice  
Out of Chaos Paradise.  
Come away and cast your eyes  
On this humble sacrifice.   

We no golden apples give,  
Here's no Adam, here's no Eve,  
Not a Serpent dare appear,  
Whilst your Majesty is here.  
Oh then sit, and take your due,  
Those the first fruits are that grew  
In this Eden, and are thrown  
On this Altar as your own.   

Set a Chair for earth's Jove,  
Bring another for his love,  
Come away, vouchsafe, and taste  
What was gathered up in haste,  
If we live another year  
By your grace and favour here,  
Italy, France, and Spain  
Of their fruits shall boast in vain.    

Mr. Bushel presenting the Rock by an Echo to the Queen.  
ECHO, ECHO.  

I charge thee answer me to what I ask, ask  
Hath aught presented to these Princes pleased? pleased  
Pleased! O gentle Echo speak that word again, again  
How have they liked our Rock, our Cave, our Well? well  
Well! proud would their Host be should I tell him; tell him  
Tell him Echo I will, that he despair not. spare not  
What shall we give 'em by way of thankfulness? thankfulness  
That like thee is air; we would give what's real; all  
All, Why? All what we have is but this Rock, this Rock  
Give them this poor Rock, Echo mean you so? so  
To which of them, to th' King or to the Queen? the Queen  
What to the King, if this be given the Queen? the Queen  
The Queen, there is nought more precious; 'tis true: true  
Can nothing more be added to her bliss? bliss  
Bliss, the bliss of Heaven Echo you mean sure, sure  
Sure be't to them as this our blessing; sing  
Sing gentle Echo, Is that thy desire? desire   

THen blessed be this pair  
On the earth, in the air;  
Blessed in their lasting joys,  
Blessed in their Girls, and Boys,  
Let them live to hear it told,  
Their grand-grandchildrens are grown old.  
Let her beauty ever last,  
And her vigour never waste.  
Let the Sea that bounds the Isles,  
Ebb at least ten thousand miles,  
And return no more, but leave  
New Kingdoms for them to bequeath  
To the many heirs they get:  
And when they pay nature's debt,  
Let their bodies not be found  
Dwelling in the sluttish ground,  
But translated to those Thrones,  
Only built for blessed ones.  
Echo, let these Prayers be  
Posted up to Heaven by thee;  
And if granted, let us know,  
Gentle Echo Echo, answer so. so   

So then 'tis agreed above, above  
That this pair shall live and love and love  
And for ever happy be happy be  
〈…〉 posterity. posterity  
Echo, for this news, I'll give give  
Leave that thou shalt ever live live  
In this Paradise of theirs; theirs  
Theirs, Echo, 'tis no more mine; mine  
Theirs and thine Echo ever ever  
Fates decreed alter never. never    

A Sonnet sung to the King and Queen at Mr. Bushels Rock.  

HArk, hark, how the stones in the Rock  
Strive their tongues to unlock,  
And would show  
What they know  
Of the Joy here hath been  
Since the King and the Queen  
Deign to say  
They would pay  
A visit to this Cell:  
But all tongues cannot tell,  
Nor language express  
Our full thankfulness.   

Hark, hark, how the streams roll along,  
And for want of a tongue  
Vent in tears  
All their fears.  
Lest the King, lest the Queen  
Being come, having seen,  
What we have  
In his Cave,  
That nothing can delight  
That is brought to their sight,  
Or fully express  
Our heart's thankfulness.   

Hark, hark, how the Birds in the Groves  
Strive to tender their loves,  
For the Spring,  
That the King,  
And the Queen bring along;  
Do but see how they throng  
With their notes  
In their throats,  
On each B●…k, in each Bush  
Sits a Lark, and a Thrush,  
That strive to express  
Their heart's thankfulness.   

Hark, hark, we humbly do entreat,  
How your Host's heart doth beat,  
How it pants  
'Cause it wants  
What he gladly would bring  
To the Queen and the King,  
Deign to speak,  
Lest it break,  
Let him know you are pleased,  
That his heart may be eased,  
Or this Rock, or this Cave,  
Is his Tomb, or his Grave.    
FINIS.