M. E. Monckton Jones

“ At each angle of the wall there is a very fine and rich palace in which the war-harness of the Emperor is kept, such as bows and quivers, saddles and bridles, and bowstrings and everything needful for an army. ”

“ Nay if arguments may be allowed to have equal weight on both sides, the Whigs have been the honester of the two, for they never protested any such blind, absolute and undisputed obedience to Princes, as the others have done.
It has always been their opinion, that Government was originally contrived by the consent and for the mutual benefit of the parties governed, that the people have an original, native right to their property, the liberty of their persons and possessions, unless forfeited to the Laws; that they cannot be divested of their right but by their own consent ”

“ Please it unto your said great and high discretions to consider the great hurt that the poor Commons of this noble realm of England have and suffer at this time for default of Halfpennies and Farthings of silver; insomuch that men travelling over countries, for part of their expenses of necessity must dispart our sovereign Lord’s coin, that is to wit, a penny in two pieces, or else forgo all the same penny for the payment of an halfpenny ”

“ After supper was over all our servants had betaken themselves to bed, when after the deepest sleep had taken possession of them all, a most violent north wind arose, and so hastened on this greatest of misfortunes that could possibly befall us. ”

“ Experience has fully shown that there was no real cause to apprehend any decay of the British commerce in consequence of the new order of things in America: and moreover, what must effectually silence all controversy on the subject, the official accounts of the Custom House demonstrate that there has been a greater and more rapid increase in the general commerce of Great Britain, and especially of the commerce with America, since the era of American independence than ever there was. ”

“ We also beg it may be particularly considered, that while the English are masters of the American seas, and can, without fear of interruption, transport with such ease their army from one part of our extensive coast to another, and we can only meet them by land marches, we may possibly, unless some powerful aid is given us or some strong diversion be made in our favour, be so harassed and be put to such immense distress, as that finally our people will find themselves reduced to the necessity of ending the war by an accommodation.... ”

“ Then as every clothier must necessarily keep one horse, at least to fetch home his wool and his provisions from the market, to carry his yarn to the spinners, his manufacture to the fulling-mill, and when finished to the market to be sold, and the like; so everyone generally keeps a cow or two for his family. By this means, the small pieces of inclosed land about each house are occupied; and by being thus fed, are still farther improved by the dung of the cattle. As for corn, they scarce grow enough to feed their poultry. ”

“ As other princes of Europe are lending or hiring their troops to Britain against America, it is apprehended that France may, if she thinks fit, afford our independent States the same kind of aid, without giving England any just cause of complaint. But if England should on that account declare war, we conceive that by the united force of France, Spain and America, she will lose all her possessions in the West Indies.... ”

“ So it was, that the King’s Majesty, by the advice of his uncle, the Lord Protector, and other of the Council, thought good to set forth a proclamation against enclosures, and taking in of fields and commons that were accustomed to lie open, for the behoof of the inhabitants dwelling near to the same, who had grievously complained of gentlemen and others for taking from them the use of those fields and commons, and had enclosed them into parks and several pasture for their private commodities and pleasures, to the great hindrance and undoing many a poor man. ”

“ But on the other hand, the Aldermen shewed by many reasons, that unto them belongs the election of Mayor, both because they, the Aldermen are the heads, as it were, and the populace the limbs, as also because it is the Aldermen who pronounce judgments in pleas moved within the City. Of the populace on the other hand there are many who have neither lands, rents, nor dwellings in the City, being sons of divers mothers, some of them of servile station, and all of them caring little or nothing about the City’s welfare. ”

“ It hath been also the error of the Dutch, who seek plantation here by the sword. They turn a wonderful stock, they prowl in all places, they possess some of the best; yet their dead payes consume all the gain. ”

“ Fragments of the Saxon laws show the give and take of community life working out into rules of fair play and justice. The influence of the Church in trade, in education, in exploration and over-seas intercourse, appears in the life of Ingulf of Croyland. Town life is seen to develop through gild regulations and the records of London. The consequent growth of the burghers’ power in Parliament, in naval organization and in finance over against the power of great noble houses, and the disorder of the fifteenth century, emerge from the Paston Correspondence. ”

“ Item, there such proclamation and ordinance to be made and established amongst and in the said Navy, that none ship or ships harm nor hurt none other ship of our friends; where through any trouble or breaking of Peace might fall between the King our Sovereign Lord, and other of his Friends.
Item, it is thought necessary, that if any ship or ships be taken as enemies, when the goods in the said ship be brought into any port of this land; that the goods nor the ships be not disperbled nor divided, unto the time that it be duly known, whether it be enemies’ goods or friends’ goods ”

“ But if there be a beast that breaks hedges and goes in everywhere, and he who owns it will nor or cannot restrain it; let him who finds it in his field take it and slay it, and let the owner take its skin and flesh and forfeit the rest.
(43) When anyone burns a tree in a wood, and it be found out against him who did it, let him pay the full wite; let him give sixty shillings because fire is a thief. If anyone fell in a wood a good many trees, and be afterwards discovered; let him pay for three trees, each with thirty shillings. ”

“ All hope of escape was gone and I toiled up to the highest part of the ship, and with a quivering voice and fast-falling tears, I called upon your Highnesses’ war-captains from each point of the compass to come to my succour, but there was no reply. [Columbus sleeps and sees a vision in which he is upbraided for want of faith] (p. 184) .
I collected the men who were on land.... I departed in the name of the Holy Trinity, on Easter night, with the ships rotten, worn out and eaten into holes [by the teredo] .... ”

“ Every one shall pay a halfpenny to the king for every load of fish that he puts out for sale.
Every non-freeman shall pay for every cartload of fish brought in, twopence halfpenny: and for every horseload of fresh fish, a penny halfpenny, and of salt fish a halfpenny.
[Similar regulations for bakers and brewers with rules as to the quality of the food.]
No non-freeman may have a booth for sale of goods within the town.
Cheese, butter, grease, and smear pay the same toll as wool, half weight counting the same as the whole. ”

“ His vessel is a galleon of nearly 400 tons and is a perfect sailor. She is manned with a hundred men, all of service, and of an age for warfare, and all are as practised therein as old soldiers from Italy could be. Each one takes particular pains to keep his arquebuse clean. He treats them with affection, and they treat him with respect. He carries with him nine or ten cavaliers, cadets of English noblemen. These form part of his council which he calls together for even the most trivial matter, although he takes advice from no one. ”

“ Afterwards, when his lordship the King gave unto the citizens a new Charter as to their liberties, in which it is set forth that no merchant stranger shall buy or sell any wares that ought to be weighed or troned, except by the beam and tron of his lordship the King, under forfeiture of the whole of such wares—and this, too, had been proclaimed throughout all the City—these merchants, nevertheless, continued to weigh as they had previously done. ”

“ Also, whereas corn, wine and the like, when brought into the City for sale, ought not to be taken back out of the City, according to the law and custom of the City, he, taking a bribe, such for example, as from one merchant a tun of wine, from another a pipe, and from another twenty shillings, allowed more than a thousand tuns to be taken out of the City, in contravention of his oath, and to the great loss of the City. ”

“ That on a slight complaint of a few Virginia merchants, [162] nine colonies had been restrained from making paper money, become absolutely necessary to their internal commerce, from the constant remittance of their gold and silver to Britain....
Iron is to be found everywhere in America, and the beaver furs are the natural produce of that country. Hats and nails and steel are wanted there as well as here. It is of no importance to the common welfare of the empire, whether a subject of the King’s obtains his living by making hats on this or on that side of the water. ”

“ The main effect of the century was the growth of a great capitalist class able to control the national affairs, drawing their wealth from the colonies, from new methods of agriculture, or of finance and industry, such as are seen in the references to Defoe’s Tour, Young’s Northern Tour, the Life of Coutts, and indications of the new inventions in industry, and the conditions they produced. ”

“ Lancaster is a flourishing town, well situated for trade, of which it carries on a pretty brisk one; possessing about 100 sail of ships, some of them good burthen, for the African and American trades. The only manufactory in the town is that of cabinet ware. Here are many cabinet makers who work up the mahogany brought home in their own ships, and re-export it to the West Indies, etc. ”

“ This galleon of his carries about thirty heavy pieces of artillery and a great quantity of firearms with the requisite ammunition and lead. He dines and sups to the music of viols. He carries trained carpenters and artisans, so as to be able to careen the ship at any time. Besides being new, the ship has a double lining. I understood that all the men he carries with him receive wages, because, when our ship was sacked, no man dared take anything without his orders. He shows them great favour, but punishes the least fault. ”

“ And the merchants of Constantinople advised me not to take carts of the citizens of Soldaia [Sudak, a Crimean port] but to buy covered carts of mine own (such as the Russians carry their skins in) and to put all our carriages, which I would daily take out, into them: because if I should use horses, I must be constrained at every bait to take down my carriages, and to lift them up again upon sundry horses’ backs and besides that, I should ride a more gentle pace by the oxen drawing the carts. ”

“ If any brother or sister goes away from Lincoln for a year, not being on pilgrimage, and afterwards seeks to rejoin the gild, he must pay twelve pence: if away for two years, he must pay two shillings, unless he have grace.
Whoever seeks to be received into the gild, being of the same rank as the bretheren and sisteren who founded it, namely of the rank of common and middling folks, shall be charged to be faithful to the gild, and shall bear his share of its burdens. ”

“ Six good men shall be chosen, three by the Commonalty, and three by the Twenty four to gather in all king’s dues and town rates; who shall yield an account thereof. An account must be given to the Six of moneys gathered by the Mayor or others out of town. If any man find goods for common use, it shall be put to his score, or the goods be returned.
When the time comes for the great Gild sale, men of good name shall be sought, to gather the fees of the merchants.
Non-freemen shall pay to the bailiffs, at the town-gates, for every cartload of corn coming into the town for sale, a halfpenny toll ”

“ If a man burn or hew another’s wood without leave, let him pay for every great tree with five shillings, and afterwards for each, let there be as many of them as may be, with five pence, and thirty shillings as wite.
(34) It is also directed to chapmen, that they bring the men whom they take up with them before the king’s reeve at the folk-moot, and let it be stated how many of them there are ... and when they have need of more men up with them on their journey, let them always declare it, as often as their need may be, to the king’s reeve, in presence of the gemot. ”

“ Citizens are entitled to attend the moot, but are already becoming a close oligarchy, “every worker” not being admitted to the freedom of the city.
Note that shops are uncommon, goods are usually sold at booths erected in market or street.
The “Great Gild” is the Merchant gild comprising all traders; the various crafts have their own gilds but are subject to the Mayor as representative of the Gild Merchant out of which in this case the corporation appears to have arisen, the townhall being called the Gildhall, and rules being enforced to maintain a high standard in commodities sold. ”