A Plain and Easy Way to Pay the Debt due to the Orphans of London. WITHOUT CHARGE either to CITY or COUNTRY( But of great ADVANTAGE to both.)  
Viz. That the said Orphans do humbly Petition the Parliament, That it may be Enacted to the following( or like) Intent, viz.  
I. THat there may be a Register Book kept by the Chamberlain( or &c) in the Guild-Hall of London, for the registering of all such Houses, Leases and Lands( within the Bills of Mortality) as shall be voluntarily desired by the particular Proprietors of the same( not compelling any one) to be registered.  
II. That( for preventing Frauds, &c.) every Proprietor, desiring to have his House, &c. entred into the said Register, shall first cause his Title to the same House, &c. to be manifested, by describing the Sign, Street, Place, Parish, Inhabitants Name and Proprietors Name; particularly specifying his Interest, whether Free-hold or Lease-hold( and if Lea●●-hold) the Free-holders Name and Place, with the Rent reserved and Term to come, in the Nature of an Abstract; which Abstract shall be delivered to the Church-Wardens of the Parish, where the House, &c. lie, to the Intent to be hung up in that Parish Church, to public View and Notice, during Four Sundays or longer: After which( no coutra Claim being in the mean Time made) the Church-Wardens shall certify the said Publication upon the said Abstract, unto the Chamberlain; for which Certification and Publication the Church-Wardens shall have, from the Proprietor, Two Shillings, for the Use of the Poor. Upon which Certificate the Chamberlain shall register the said House, &c. and shall hang up the said certificated Abstract to public View and Notice, in the said Guild-Hall, for Six or Twelve Months: After which( if no Contra Claim in the mean Time made) shall bar all other Claims; for which the Proprietor, shall pay Twenty Shillings for the Use of the Orphans.  
III. That a Proprietor, having thus registered his House, &c. which being( for instance) worth One Hundred Pound per annum, and now wanting One Thousand Pound to purchase a Bargain or mary a Daughter, &c. he, showing his Abstract, gets the money, goes to Guild Hall, and hath One Thousand Pound entred to the Lender, as Mortagage-Mony, upon his House, &c. for which he shall pay Ten Shillings, to the Use of the Orphans, and so toties quoties, There being above One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Houses within the Bills of Mortality( if but One Fourth do come into Register, here is above Thirty Thousand Pound per annum( and none will stay out after one Years Experience of the Advantage hereof;) by which it may appear, the Orphans Debt may be paid, without Charge to City or Country, and would be an Act of great Piety, Justice and Charity, and a further means to prevent Cheat and Knavery.  
And, to make it appear to be a further particular and public Advantage, it doth enable the Proprietors, within the Bills of Mortality, to raise a present real Security for so much ready money as their particular Interests are worth, without Trouble or other expense than aforesaid( it may be questioned whether the Houses, &c. within the Bills of Mortality, or the other Stock and Estates of all the Inhabitants therein be of greater Value.) Upon the whole, it may be rationally judged, That here may be, Three or Four Millions of Pounds equivalent to ready money, added to the Wealth of this Circuit, the great Benefit that Trade, Lands and Rents would receive hereby, is( without mature Meditation there on) incredible.  
If the Question were asked; How shall Great Britain, alone, maintain a War, and defend itself against the French King, in case he should make a Peace with the other Confederates, and turn all his Arms upon it?  
The Answer shall wholly respect England, for that Scotland hath most of the Provisions here suggested to be wanting in England; as a General Register( whereby Lands are there worth Twenty Four Years Purchase, and on the English Side of Tweed not Eighteen) a general naturalisation, and many other excellent Laws and Methods, to encourage Trade, manufacture, Fishing, &c.  
Let England have a voluntary Register of Lands, &c. a general naturalisation of all Protestants: Let England but pursue all Methods that may Encourage and increase Shipping, and all Marine Force and Fortification in general( but not in the least to derogate from our present vigorous Assistance of the Confederates against France, by Land-Forces, yet Two Hundred good Ships of War, well paid, and duly ordered, by strict Discipline, that Fidelity, Valour and Bravery be nobly rewarded, Cowardice, Negligence and Treachery severaly punished, this may rationaly be presumed to be a much more Sure, Safe and Lasting Defence and Protection to England than Two Hundred Thousand Horse and Foot Soldiers, and would abundantly more induce Strangers to bring their Wealth, Arts and Manufactures, and settle here among us( who being by naturalisation as free as we, finding Trade preserved free( which it ought to be as Air or Water, or as free as that Noble Constitution of the Turky-Company, worthy to be imitated, at least to far distant Countries) not hampered with Charters of Monopolies, Corporations or Patents, that generally tend to the Destruction and Driving away Trade and Traders, for where Freedom and Liberty flourish, there the Industrious and wealthy Traders delight to remain. Thus they and their Riches will be ours, their Hands ready for our common Defence and Safeguard, to maintain our Religion, Liberties and Laws.  
If every Parish in England could but be induced( at once) to advance a Three Years Poor-tax, to buy Stuff and Materials to set the poor to work, and pursue the excellent Laws, already made, to enforce the same, they would abundantly find their Account in it, before the Three Years end, in lessening the Poor, and thereby their future Charge: Then might Justices of the Peace, and other Officers, strictly, and to effect, execute the Laws and Statutes against Beggars, idle Vagabonds, &c. which are no better than Vermin in a Common-wealth; by the neglect whereof England is reproached, by the practise of all other Protestant Countries in the World, where are not the tenth part of the Beggars and useless Persons that are here, neither would that vulgar topic( of eating the Bread out of our Mouths) have any Credit( by Experience in practise) but the contrary would abundantly be manifested, for one Man makes Trade for another( to●ies quoties) as is evident by populous Countries, Cities and Towns: Indeed where Tyranny and Slavery obtain, there is generally Poverty, Beggary, Baseness, and Lowness of Spirit among the Inhabitants, and a kind of heartlesness to Industry, as not doing it for themselves.  
Though England may have forgot the noted Tyrannies, and many Mischiefs of Oliver's Army, destroying King, Nobility and Gentry, hectoring the Nation by cobblers and Draw-men: When the Nation could not pay them, they did pay themselves: And the later Jealousies from the Black Heath Army( yet without Doubt this was the Cause why many Wealthy and Useful French Refugees declined to come to England, to settle here.) England's Militia was, before K. Charles the First's Time the only Soldiery known here, which was kept in constant Discipline and Readiness( all from Sixteen to Sixty being obliged, with Arms) to keep Peace at Home, and to serve the Wars abroad; this made the English: famed for Arms abroad and safe at Home, our Ancestors wisely considering, that these would be( Totum in toto & totum in qualibet parte) Sentinel, and defend the Nation, and could neither be induced to destroy the Monarchy or Church, or to enslave their Country; the sense of their excellent Laws and Liberties would inflame their Valour, speedily to end a War with Honour, and not to prolong it, thereby to make a Trade, nor be sullen at disbanding,( as was seen in Oliver's and the Black Heath's mercenary Armies;) this practise, renewed and improved by Naval Forces, would break the French King's Measures( if not his Heart.)  
If were to be wished that such able Sea Commanders as are incapacitated to serve the Nation, would either qualify themselves, or that the Act for the Test were suspended, as to the Sea-Service( or at least for a Season) in manner as the Habeas Corpus Act hath been, so that all Hands might be aloft to pierce the Enemy in that most sensible Part, and seems agreeable to what his present Majesty desired in the beginning of his happy Reign. The very reason for making of that Act seems to be, to prevent a Popish Prince from putting Officers of that Religion into Places of Trust, which is now ceased, the Prince being now a zealous Protestant, and a Popish one being now incapacitated by Law.  
Thus England's Naval Force would be( Decus & Tutamen) her Glory and Protection, proclaiming and displaying England's Honour, Power and Strength, upon our Neighbour, or more distant Shores; And might once gain give the same Command to Lewis the Fourteenth that Queen Elizabeth did to his Predecessor, Henry the Fourth( when building Ships of War) and thus pierce him in the most sensible part; Then Foreigners would flock in to us with their Riches, &c. and Trade, Wealth and People would multiply, which are the fundamental Strength and Glory of the Nation. Our Ancestors were so sensible of the Advantage hereof, that History informs us, Edward the Third, at a public Charge, brought over great Numbers of Strangers, and largely enfranchised them. Henry the Seventh lent them great Sums of money Interest free. Queen Elizabeth followed the noble Examples of the Two former, whereby she became so redoubted to her Neighbours, and Safe and Beloved at Home.  
Then might we enclose, Cultivate, Manure and Improve many of the Waste and foreste Lands( or if need were, raise some Millions of ready money out of them;) thus employing or punishing the lazy Beggar and thieving Vagabond, too many of which do now shelter about such Places. Thus we might improve England to maintain four Times the People it now hath, and in far greater Plenty, and with full Employment( consequently England would be four Times richer and stronger to oppose the French, &c.) and the Customs, Excise and other Taxes would proportionably advance to the benefit of the Crown; and this Advancement and Promoting Industry, Frugality and Diligence would as well increase Sobriety, Justice and Honesty, and banish away Laziness, 'vice and Debauchery, which tend first to beggary, then to Thefts, Robberies, &c. Thus would England increase in People, Riches, Manufactures, Improvements and Trade, the most fundamental and lasting Strength of every Nation. This seems the most infallible and proper way for England( and worthy of so noble a Nation) to maintain War, and defend itself, &c.( thus being, by our Naval Forces outguarded, and safely protected,( a toto divisos orbè Britannos, they walking its Rounds, is not to be approached without their Leave) while we encouraging Industry, Trade and Manufacture securely and peaceably at Home, to export to all other Nations, and bring in either money or other Goods we want, in Exchange. Besides all, the natural Fruits of Industry and Diligence, are Temperance, Honesty, Sobriety and Justice, which Divine Providence doth usually crown with Peace, Plenty and Happiness.  
This short and crude Essay may be so fortunate, as to move some more able Pen( in Imitation of the Romans, in their virtuous and thriving State, who sent to Sparta and other Cities of Greece for their Laws, &c. to use as Models to frame their own by) to sand to Taunton-dean, Scotland, Holland and many other Places where Registers, &c. are in use, to improve and perfect this so beneficial, noble and charitable Work.