MILLED LEAD, DEMONSTRATED To be a better and more durable Covering for Buildings, etc. and above 20 per Cent. cheaper than Cast-Lead can be; supposing that to be 16 s and this but 13 s a Hundred.  
And also for Sheathing Ships against the Worm, better, and above Cent. per Cent. cheaper than the ordinariest Wood-Sheathing can be.  
TO prove the first, only two Axioms, or moral Truths (which will need no probation) are required to be granted, by which the Matters of Fact evident in the Case may be examined.  
Axiom 1 That the heat of the Sun being allowed to be the common Cause of drawing, and consequently of cockling and cracking a Lead-Covering, the Beams thereof, which fall with equal force upon an unequal Body (such as a Sheet of Cast-Lead is) must draw the thinner and weaker parts more than the thicker and stronger.  
Axiom 2 That if a Plumber, or at leastwise two of the Chief Master-Plumbers in London, joining together, shall (upon a Wager or Trial of Skill, wherein their Interest is highly concerned) undertake to cast Sheets of Lead, not thinner throughout the whole Sheet, than the Size required, and very little thicker in any place, they will cast as well, and as near equality, and the Size given as they can; and that the Sheets cast by them in such a Trial, or at least in two such Trials, aught to be taken for the greatest certainty, Standard, and best Casting any Plumber can pretend to; or at leastwise that such Casting is much better than what any Customer in the common course of their Trade can expect from them. This being granted.  
From the first Axiom it follows, That if the Plumber could Cast exactly equal to the thinner parts of his Sheet, his Cast-Lead would make a better Covering than to be thicker in one place than in another; for that the thicker and stronger parts resisting the Sun beams more than the thinner and weaker, those parts must stay behind whilst the weaker move; which motion by degrees cockles and cracks the Sheet; whereas if the Sheet were exactly equal as the Mill'd-Lead is, it would by the equal force falling thereon, move or stay equally as the Mill'd-Lead does, where no other Cause or Accident occurs. Here note also, that this excess of thickness in some places, is not only unnecessarily paid for, but it helps forward the ruin of the rest.  

Mill'd-Lead for Cover Better.  Wherefore Mill'd-Lead, which is exactly equal, tho' no thicker than the thinner part of a Cast-Sheet, must be allowed to be a better, and more durable Covering than Cast-Lead.  
Obs. The Mill'd-Lead Company having in the Year 1678. made a Proposal to the then Navy-Board, to make their Scuppers of Mill'd-Lead, one Mr. Parsons a Plumber they had employed in that Work, opposed it; pretending, That altho' their Cast-Lead was not exactly equal, yet the inequality was so inconsiderable that the Mill'd-Lead Scuppers being proposed at 4 s a hundred more than theirs, they would be much dearer to the King. The Board then asked him, What allowance of inequality he required? He answered, Not above half-a-Pound in Ten: Whereupon they ordered each to make 36 Scuppers of three several sizes and thickness, viz. of 8 pound, 10 pound, and 12 pound to the foot-square; which caution to the Plumber, That his Lead should not be thinner in the thinnest parts than their Demand, as little thicker any where as he could: Which he undertook; and both sides having sent in their Scuppers, the Mill'd-Lead which could easily be conformable to any thickness desired, weighed but 8 hundred, 1 quarter 26 pound; whereas the Cast-Lead Scuppers weighed 12 hundred 3 quarters 10 pound, about ⅓ part instead of 1/25 more: This so much exceeding his Undertaking, and he pretending carelessness of Servants, and other Excuses, the Board ordered a second Trial upon (double the Number) 72 Scuppers; when he took to his assistance one Mr. Whitehall, another Master-Plumber, who made part thereof; and it cannot be imagined but these Plumbers now used all their Skill and Care; notwithstanding which, the weight of their whole 72 was 25 hundred 1 quarter 12 pound; whereas the 72 Mill'd-Lead Scuppers weighed but 16 hundred 3 quarters 10 pound; about the same proportion with the former; which at 26 s per hundred (the Cast-Lead Scuppers being then 22 s) was above 27 per Cent. cheaper to the King. This appears more at large in a Memorial presented to the Navy-Board in May 1690. and Printed page 115. in a small Book lately published, treating (amongst other new Inventions and Improvements) of the Mill'd-Lead for Sheathing Ships, etc. and its Excellency in preference to Cast-Lead for all other purposes whatsoever, and the Plumbers suggestions, decrying the same, therein proved, to be idle, scandalous, and false, as well as the Shipwrights.  
Divers other Trials of other kinds were afterwards made by direction of the present Navy-Board, with which they being farther satisfied, contracted for the Mill'd-Lead in general, for all Services of Their Majesty's Yards; declaring in their Instructions to the Officers, That they had (amongst other Faults) found upon several Trials made, that the Cast-Lead was so unequal and uncertain, they could not have what they demanded, nor depend thereon for Their Majesty's Service, as they could do upon the Mill'd-Lead; and therefore ordered them to demand that only for the future, laying their old Plumbers, their Lead, and Solder totally aside.  
From the Second Axiom, and only those two Trials , it plainly appears that the Plumbers (let them or their Friends pretend what they will) cannot Cast within ⅓ equal to the Size given through the whole Sheet: Wherefore (it having been proved above, that Mill'd-Lead is for that reason at least ⅓ better, and will in use go ⅓ farther) whatsoever the Price of Mill'd-Lead be less than ⅓ more than Cast-Lead, it must be granted that Mill'd-Lead is so much the cheaper.  

Mill'd-Lead for Cover Cheaper.  Now the Price of Mill'd-Lead, at the Rates above-supposed, being but about ⅕ more, the same is above 20 per Cent. cheaper, as well as better than Cast-Lead, which was to be demonstrated.  
For 3 C. of Cast-Lead at 13 s is 39 s and 2 C. of Mill'd-Lead at 16 s is but 32 s which being 7 s less, it is almost 22 per Cent. cheaper.  
32— 7 ∷ 100— 21 87 ∶ Or, 21 l 17 s 6 d  
But if some are unwilling to grant that Mill'd-Lead is better, and will go farther than Cast-Lead, in so great a Degree as ⅓, here's Latitude enough, let them allow half as much, and take ⅙ or any Degree under ⅛ (the Plumbers usual Price being 14 s a hundred;) within which Limit, or Proportion of Inequality, sure they will be satisfied that Milled Lead is enough better and cheaper (besides the benefit of a more beautiful and lighter Covering) to recommend it to their Use, it being one considerable advantage also, that they are sure they shall have the Mill'd-Lead equal smooth and sound, and of what thickness they demand; whereas the Plumber can cast but by guess, and that liable to concealed Blow-holes, and Sand-holes, as the Plumbers call them, and where they happen, must also hasten the decay; which holes the Mill opens, and enlarges so, that it discovers all the defects of Casting, but hides none; tho 'tis falsely pretended it closes those holes which the Sun opens again: and if the Plumber Casts so, as to bring the Charge less, or equal to the Price of the Mill'd-Lead, the Customer (if he carefully examines it) will find it to be so much thinner than the Mill'd-Lead in some places, as well as thicker in others, as to render that Covering at least 20 per Cent. worse; as is above demonstrated.  
As to the Plumber 's pretence, That their Covering being heavier, it will yield more Money again when both come to be stripped: It is not worth the answering, when it shall be considered, that Mr. Hale offers in his Advertisement (Published by itself, and Printed also in the Book , p. 93. to keep any Mill'd-Lead Covering, of 100 l Value, that he lays but of 7 pound to the Foot in good repair, for 41 Years (to name a Term certain and sufficient, though it must probably last much longer) for 5 s a Year: And that the different value of the Old Lead, after 41 Years (if the Cast-Lead should be supposed to lie so long) to be paid in ready Money is not worth speaking of, if no regard were had to the damage a House may sustain by the leaking of a Cast-Lead Covering, and charge of patching it with Solder in the mean time.  

Now as to the Mill'd-Lead Sheathing.  
THE Antelope, a Merchantman of about 600 Tun, Sheathed with Mill'd-Lead, 
Mill'd-Lead Sheathing Better.  having been employed in His Majesty's Service this last Summer, had her Sheathing viewed at her return into the Dock by Mr. Shepheard, and other Merchants her Owners, who declared themselves very well satisfied therewith; the same lying on very well, and firm, as at first doing, saving two or three small Places, where the Anchor-fluke had torn it: To prevent which, for the future, it has been thought fit to sheathe over the Lead with Board's in the Wake of the Anchor and along about the Waters-edge, that Boats, or other Vessels coming on Board, or lying by her sides, may do the Lead-sheathing no damage, altho' the Shipwright has carried his Wood-sheathing lower than was necessary for that purpose (for Reasons best known to himself) contrary to the Owners Order. There was also a place rubbed off about two hands breadth on one side of the Keel, supposed to be done by an Anchor-stock, she coming so often to an Anchor in this Service, that the sheathing could not be liable to suffer so much damage perhaps in a whole East-India Voyage, as the Commander hath certified. And for her * Rudder-Irons, 
The main reason of the different duration and very short lasting of some Rudder-Irons over others must be the slight working, and purging 'em from their more gross and earthy Parts with Fire and Hammer; for the Smith being paid by weight, will find temptation to work 'em as slight as he can, seeing that the more labour and charge he's at, the less money he shall receive for his Work.  which were new put on with her sheathing about 8 months before, some Shipwrights, and their Friends, would have persuaded them that they were eaten so very much that it was dangerous to send her to Sea again without shifting them, and that the Lead-Sheathing was the cause thereof; giving for Reasons, that the Water passing by the sides of the Ship, it was so tinged by the venomous quality of the Lead-Sheathing, that making a kind of eddy or or dead Water at the Rudder, it did there eat and corrode the Irons in this extraordinary manner they talk of; to which, Mr. Hale being present, was desired to give his Answer, but he told them, He thought it deserved none, till they had given a better Reason than he had done already (namely the great variety and difference in the composition and working the Rudder-Irons) for their unconstant and different duration, always known to have been before Lead-Sheathing was thought on, has been since, and ever will be upon all Ships sheathed either way, or not sheathed at all; and that their lasting has been as short and unconstant upon those others, as these sheathed with Lead, as he can prove if necessary, which effects ought to have been on all, as equal and constant as their causes are, if the sheathing either way were concerned therein: Whereupon the Shipwrights Reasons against the Lead-sheathing, and for shifting the Rudder-Irons (which if they could have obtained upon this Ship, how causeless soever, would have much countenanced their Clamour) appearing very weak and groundless, Mr. Shepheard, with his Partners, in the presence of divers other Merchants, declared, That if ever he sheathed another Ship it should be with Mill'd-Lead, (this being the third they had applied this sheathing to within this Twelvemonth) and that this Ship (which was designed for a long Voyage) should go to Sea again with the same Rudder-Irons without any amendment. Since which (notwithstanding all the clamour and noise the Shipwrights make about this sheathing's rubbing off, and eating the Rudder-Irons) one Mr. Haines Merchant hath lately sheathed another Ship with it, called the Fortune, bound for guiney. Thus much, with what is proved more at large in the 
* In that Book it appears that all Objections as to rubbing off by Cables lying on ground, etc. upon 5 years' Experience and about half asoore Ships sheathed, were removed to the Navy-Boards satisfaction, who then contracted for the Lead-sheathing; and, after that, this clamour about the Rudder-Irons (never heard of before) was started when they found the other would not do.  Book abovementioned, may sufficiently satisfy the unprejudiced as to the Rudder-Irons; and the ●heathing, being Metal which the Worm cannot enter, is a full Demonstration that ●is Mill'd-Lead is a better sheathing against the Worm (the first and only thing intended by sheathing) than the Wood sheathing can be.  
Now as to its cheapness, 
Mill'd-Lead Sheathing above Cent. per Cent. Cheaper.  suppose an ordinary Wood sheathing cost 10 d a foot square, and that two such sheathings be allowed to last 7 years with Graving once or twice a year; and that for a Ship of about 600 Tun (which contains about 5400 foot of sheathing) but 40 l a year be allowed for her Graving, this, in 7 years' time, with the first charge of those two sheathings, would amount to 730 l  

Note. Nothing is required under or over this Sheathing, the Plank being brimmed and the Seams 〈◊〉 caulked, and some long Bristle-brushes on Board, to clean it once in two or three months, or as occasion offers, which yet fouls not so much as a Wood-sheathing does.  Suppose also that a Mill'd-Lead sheathing would cost 15 d a foot, and that one such sheathing be continued on but for the same term of 7 years, which (if the Ships Seams or Plank do not require its Stripping for other repairs) may last for any defect in the Sheathing itself twice as long, or longer, (as Experience has sufficiently shown) with some small repairs for accidental rubs, which, with a little quantity of the Lead and Nails reserved on Board, any one may mend as opportunity offers. This 5400 Foot would cost the Owner, with allowance of ¼ only part for the old sheathing at stripping, but 253 l 2 s 6 d which would be 476 l 17 s 6 d saved in his Pocket out of his 730 l that the Wood sheathing must have cost him in these 7 years' time, if the Graving upon such a Ship had stood him in no more than 40 l a year, as is above supposed. Nay, if one such Wood-sheathing would last the whole 7 Years, suppose but 45 l ayear (which may be computed at much more) for the Graving, and the Lead-sheathing will be still above Cent. per Cent. cheaper, which was to be demonstrated, there remaining 34 l to spare, which may probably be more than the Lead-sheathing will require, to repair accidental rubs all the time.  
Besides this, there are many other Advantages; for this Sheathing stiffens a Ship so, that she will bear more Sail, and is an undeniable security against the Worm, without any hindrance to Sailing, which the great thickness and roughness of a Wood Sheathing must obstruct.  
And further, That Sheathing itself is more destructive to the Plank, it being well known, that when one Plank or Board is doubled, or clapped close, lying hot upon another, the undermost, in some time, will be doted, which in a Wood Sheathing must rot the Oakam also the sooner, whereas a Led Sheathing preserves the Plank cool and sound, and the Oakam, perhaps, twice as long.  
☞ There is, besides the constant Employment of this Mill'd-Lead about Houses, a Church built in Well-Close, called the Danes Church, lately covered with it, notwithstanding the Plumbers are as industrious (it being their Interest also) to raise Stories, and make as great a noise against this Lead, and as senseless, as the Shipwrights do.  
The Book  may be had at the Booksellers following, viz. At Mr. Hensman's Shop in Westminster-Hall, Mr. Dring at the Harrow and Crown next Cliffords-Inn in Fleetstreet; The Harp in St. Paul's Churchyard; The Leg and Star over against the Royal Exchange; And the Mill'd-Lead itself of any thickness, from a Pound in a Foot, to 20 or more, for Lining of Casks or Boxes, Brewers Backs, Fishmongers, Distillers and Dairy Vessels, Cisterns, Gutters, Pipes, Crowning of Vaults to prevent Leaking, and for Covering of Signs to Paint on, as the Mill'd-Lead Sign is, and for Coffins, or any purpose whatsoever, where Sheet Led may be used as well as Covering Houses, and many other things that Cast-Lead cannot be applied to. This Lead is of the usual breadth of 3½ Foot, and may be had above twice as long as any Plumber pretends to Cast, if need require to save drips, and comply with the length of Cover. 
These Rates are not raised, altho' now at the reprinting of this Demonstration the Price of Pig-Lead is at least 30 s a Foddar dearer than when these Rates were set.  The present Rates being for 6 l per Foot, and all thicker at 16 s a hundred; and for each Pound in a Foot square thinner 12 d a hundred more, at the Mill, or Water Carriage paid to any place upon the River about London, if the Quantity be considerable, but for small quantities under a Tun● the Customer pays Boat Hire, or in lieu of Carriage 6 d a hundred more at the Shop, and for odd Pounds under a Quarter 2 d and 2 d half penny the thinner sort, and Solder also at 6 d a Pound, which the Plumbers by Combination have hitherto kept up at 9 d  
At the Lead-Mill at Deptford, or at the Mill'd-Lead Sign in Aurange-street by Red-Lion-Square, where Mr. Hale now lives, who can furnish the Customers with able Plumbers to work his Lead as there is occasion.  
Merchants that transport Sheet-Lead abroad, will doubtless find a better Market for this than the other; and if they, or any else, having occasion for a quantity, shall think fit to send Pigs, or old Lead, into the Mill, they may, upon discourse with Mr. Hale, save something farther considerable herein also.    

This Printed Sheet may be had at Mr. Hale 's House, the Lead-Mill, or at any the Booksellers Shops , Gratis.   

LONDON: Printed November 20. 1695.