The present state of England. Part III. and Part IV. containing I. an account of the riches, strength, magnificence, natural production, manufactures of this island, with an exact catalogue of the nobility, and their seats, &c., II. the trade and commerce within it self, and with all countries traded to by the English, as at this day established, and all other matters relating to inland and marine affairs : supplying what is omitted in the two former parts ...

Of the Populacy of the En∣glish Nation.

THe Populacy of a Nation is best esti∣mated from the number of its Towns and Cities: The Kingdom of En∣gland proportionably to its circumference is scarce inferior to any Kingdom or Coun∣try of Europe (which is also accounted the the most Populous of all the four parts of the World) except France and the Low-Countries; which last being accounted no bigger in compass than York-shire, is judg∣ed to contain as many Towns and Inha∣bited places, as ten times the Circuit there∣of in most other Countries, and to some much superior, particularly Spain, late esteem'd the most considerable Monarchy of Christendom, and that it continues not so to

this day, we may in a great measure im∣••••te to the paucity of people in that kingdom; for doubtless there is nothing that conduceth more to the Strength, Grandure, Prosperity and Riches of a Nation, than the Populousness thereof, especially where Industry is in the least in∣courag'd, and Idleness discountenanc'd. Wherefore that Nation that will ever hope to flourish, ought to use all means and endeavours possible for the increasing of its People, and to avoid as much as may be all occasions of Depopulation. The prin∣cipal causes of the Dispeopleing of Spain, which according to the Testimony of seve∣ral Creditable Authors, hath been Ancient∣ly much better Peopled than at present; have been first the multitude of Monaste∣ries and Religious Prisons, those Recep∣tacles of forc'd Chastity, and as they are ordered Impediments of the Worlds Lawful Increase: Next the Violent Expul∣sion of the Moors out of Spain, after that by a long establish'd settlement, and being habituated to the same Customs, Manners and Religion, they were become as it were one Body with the rest of the People. Last∣ly, Those vast Colonies sent out of Spain to maintain and possess the ample Con∣quests, or rather Ambitious and Bloody

Invasions and Depopulations made by the the Spaniards there. The Cities and Market-Towns of England, are in num∣ber 607. to which the rest of the Burrough Towns, that is, such as send Burgesses to Parliament, and all the Inha∣bited Villages (whereof some are conder∣able) being added, make above 10 times the number, so that all the Parishes of England and Wales, are reckon'd 9285. and doubt∣less within the said circumference, which is generally computed to be about 1352 Miles, might be very well comprehended five times as many Towns or Places of Ha∣bitation, if all the Forrests, Chaces, and unimproved vast Heaths and Commons, were taken in and improved to the best advantage.

It is not to be wondred at, that next to being born under a Happy Climate, the living under a Happy Government, the greatest advantage and Strength of a People, is to be numerous, proportionably to the extent of Territory they possess. Since in the first place it is apparent enough, that in a well Inhabited City, the People must needs be so much the better able to defend themselves from any Force or Op∣position. Next, if it be a place of any Trade, take any particular number of what

Trade soever, and it is not to be imagin'd that they should be e're a whit the poorer, but rather the richer, than if the Inha∣bitants had been fewer: For admit them of the same Trade or Imployment, a profi∣table and corresponsible Trade is the more lively and vigorously carried on by many hands; and suppose them of several Occu∣pations, the circulation of Money from the one to other, helps all in general. Though 'tis true, that in a straggling Town or City, whose parts lye disjoyn'd and far asunder; the people however considerable in num∣ber, cannot be so assistant to each other in mutual Aid, Society or Commerce, as in a regular and well compacted City: So likewise in a Kingdom, that Prince who hath never so large an Empire, yet if thin∣ly Peopled, or divided into several parts remotely distant, and interrupted from mutual intercourse by long Voyages of Land and Sea, cannot be look'd upon as so powerful a Prince, as he that hath the like number of People in one intire and united Dominion. Certainly no Monarch of the World, much less of Christendom, (who∣ever he be that hath added most to his Empire by never so many new made Con∣quests) can pretend to so large a share or portion of the Earth, as the King of Spain,

who nevertheless (as the transactions of a few late past years have made appear,) hath born but his fourth part with other Princes and States, in opposition to a Prince far inferior to him in Jurisdiction; and what should be the reason of this, but that his Dominions lye so remote from each other, and his Kingdom of Spain, which his Re∣sidence there chiefly enables, is the least Peopled of all the rest, and his Viceroys of Peru and Mexico (the possession whereof hath been main occasion of Impoverishing Spain of its people) are in effect, setting aside the Title, as great Kings as himself; nor much less are those of Naples, Sicily, Millain, and what remains of Flanders, so that he seems in reality King of Spain alone, and of the rest of his Dominions, but in Title only: And to come a little nearer the matter, if all the Kings Subjects in New-England, Virginia, Maryland, &c. were planted in those unpeopled Regions of this Island (their Native Soyl) which are more than large enough to receive them, there is no doubt to be made, but that they would be more capable of serving their King, than they can possibly be at such a distance, thus transplanted to the other end of the World: To be short, no Rational man will deny, but that that

Prince, who from a Territory no larger than the County of Kent, is able to bring 100000 men into the field, is no less Potent than he who from a Territory 20 times as large is able to raise a not much greater number; and so much the more, by how much he levies them with less Trouble and Charge. That Soveraign Conquers best, who wins the hearts of his people by Mo∣deration, Justice, good Government, and wholsome Laws. He best plants Colonies, who maintains a flourishing Trade to Forraign parts; he best inlarges his Ter∣ritory, who husbands his People to the best advantage, and consults best for their Preservation and Increase; hereby approv∣ing himself all this while a true Christian Prince, not in Name only, but in reality no less; and upon this score, let the World judge, whether our Defensor Fidei have not a just Title to that of Christianissimus also. When as for any Potentate or Grandee of the World, Pontifical or other∣wise, to grasp at Power and Empire by War, Bloodshed and Rapine, though under never so spacious a pretence, even propoga∣ting the Faith it self, and at the same time to take upon him the Name of Christian, must needs be the highest affront to Hea∣ven, and shame to Religion imaginable.

The Stile of Christian Cut-throat, (for that must necessarily follow) implying a cnntradiction not to be reconcil'd by all the art of Sopistry and Jesuitism; since he that hath but heard of the Christian Re∣ligion, cannot be ignorant that Peace and Charity are the very root and foundation of Christianity, and that Religion under what Title soever, which is otherwise grounded, is to be abhorr'd by all sober men. The Creator said to the Earth at the beginning, Increase and be Replenish'd: The Destroyer hath been saying to the same Earth from the beginning, from Age to Age; be ruin'd, laid wast and Dispeopled by humane Slaughter. Now how far the parallel will hold between the greater, and Man the lesser World, as to the necessity of Purging and Bleeding; and whether it be so wholsom, as some would have us think, that the superfluous blood of the World should be let out by the Phlebotomy of War, we shall wave the inquiry at this present; only I am of opinion, that it would be better to leave the Physicking of the World to the great Physitian there∣of, than that man upon man should so often practice his Fatal Chyrurgery. There is sufficient reason to believe that those frequent Inundations of People, those nu∣merous

swarms of Cimbrians, Teutones, Lon∣gobards, Huns, Goths and Vandals, which Scythia in former times pour'd out into the milder Regions of Europe, were not so much the Luxuriance and off-scouring of an over-peopled Nation, (since not any one denomination of Country besides, takes up so large a part of the earth, or hath so many vast unhabited Vacancies) but a kind of agreement among certain numbers of men to carve themselves out better Commons than their own Country afforded; and throw off the Scythian Frost and roughness, by the Warm Sun-shine of Gallia, Spain and Italy. Now to come closer to the design of our Discourse: Three things are to be considered. First, Whether this Nation have not been in former Ages more Populous than at present. Next, what the occasion of this Dispopulation hath been. Lastly, The means of restoration to pristine Populacy, or at least of Replenishment in some degree. The first consideration is answered by the second: There is no que∣stion to be made, but that the complicated Invasions of Romans, Saxons and Danes (especially the last so dreadfully Barbarous) was the Destruction of a World of People, and the Demolishment of many Towns and Cities; and after the Norman Con∣quest,

the Bloody Civil Wars amongst us; first of the Barons, next of the two Roses: As for the Norman Invasion it self, it oc∣casion'd indeed no great matter of De∣vastation, since except a few inconsiderable Insurrections that happen'd afterwards, the business was decided by the dint of one Battle, and happily the Conqueror had not been sorry, had more of the English fallen in that quarrel; since, like a true Step∣father and Foraign Invader, more than like a Native Father of the Country, he could find in his heart to lay waste 28 Towns and Villages, to make a large ha∣bitation for wild Beasts. The last and main consideration, is how to repair this loss of People; shall we call the English of America back to their Native Soyl? or shall we invite the Industrious, or the Distressed of other Nations to come over and live among us? or shall we indeavour to People the Na∣tion better with those People, if I may so call them, we have already; that is, turn Drones into Bees, and two Legg'd Cattle into Men? The first I take altogether to be Impracticable and Irrational to go about; for it would be an endless thing for such mul∣titudes of People to unfix themselves from their setled Imploys and Habitations, and to be put to remove their Effects back to a

Country now grown as strange and un∣couth to them, as any other Foraign Na∣tion. The second, according to my poor judgment, cannot be disadvantageous to this Kingdom, could it be well compas'd and well manag'd, so as to give no distaste to the present Inhabitants; for it hath been a general and frequent Complaint, in my hearing, among some Tradesmen of London, that Foraigners (especially these French Dogs, as they stile them) come over, settle themselves among us, and eat the Bread out of our Mouths. Nevertheless it is certain, that in many Towns of England, as Canterbury, Norwich, &c. many Families of Foraigners are well setled, exercise the Epidemick Trade of those Places peaceably and prosperously enough, and without envy or disturbance. Hospitality is a certain evidence of a good Nature and Generous Inclination; and it hath been formerly, and doubtless still is in a great measure, the particular Credit of the English Gentry, to keep Plentiful Houses, on purpose to En∣tertain Strangers, give Shelter to benighted Travellers, and Succour all persons in Distress: And as among particular per∣sons, no man but an Indigent Wretch, or Ill-natur'd Churl, will deny Relief to a person, that through real and remediless

want makes application to him. So like∣wise among Nations, that People that re∣fuseth the Accomodation of their Country to their supplicant Neighbours, who un∣justly Banished their own Native Land, or driven, out by Persecution and Tyranny, fly to them for Refuge, must needs be the Inhabitants of a Beggarly and Unhospitable Soyl, or be themselves a sort of Inhumane and Savage-Bores. Our Kingdom, God be thanked, is sufficiently Fertile; our Na∣tives not accounted Ill-natured, and for Room we have not only to spare, but within the whole Circuit of England enough, as we have said before, to con∣tain a far greater power of People twice, if not thrice the number: So that an ac∣cession of peaceable Strangers can be no injury, may be a considerable benefit to us; so that in being Charitable to others, we shall be no losers our selves; and never was there so important and seasonable an occa∣sion offered as now, for the receiving of Foraigners among us; since never did any persecuted people so want our Entertain∣men and Succour, as at this time, these our Protestant Neighbours, who in their own Native Country, and among the Professors of Christianity, are denyed that Protecti∣on, which living peaceably, they could not

doubt of among the severest of Turks or Ethnicks; and all this for no other rea∣son, then denying to fall down before the obtruded Idol, as the Israelites were dealt with in the days of the Tyrant Nebuchad∣nezzar: But by Divine Providence it falls out happily to be at a time that England is govern'd by the most Just and Benevo∣lent of Princes; who out of his Concern∣ment for the Protestant Religion, and that innate Generosity and Clemency where∣with he delights to oblige all mankind, hath by an Order of Councel of the _____ _____ of September this present year 1681. pro∣mised all those that shall come over, such ample Priviledges and Immunities, as will much soften and allay their present Af∣flictions, and in a great measure compen∣sate for their being forc'd to abandon their Native habitations. The last cannot be reasonably judg'd unfeasible, and is certain∣ly the most absolutely necessary, since those many thousands of Unimployed persons, burthens of the earth, who presume they were only born to Eat and Drink, are no better than so many Ciphers, being per∣fectly lost to their Country: Nay which is worse, they may justly be reckoned as so many Vermine and Noxious Animals; for Idleness it self cannot always subsist in its

own station, but oftentimes is forc'd up∣on Action, but 'tis the worst part of Action, Mischief. As admit a Nation never so thinly Inhabited, and yet a Million of those Inhabitants prove utterly useless and unprofitable, that Nation may well be said to be too Populous by that Million: Inso∣much as Cut-purse, Pick-pocket, House-breaker, Highway-man, and whatever be∣sides can be imagin'd mischievous, are but the several Metamorphoses of an Idle Liver; and thus Idleness tends to a more fatal kind of Depopulation: The unworking person indeed, who in some sence may be said to be no person, but dead to the service of his Country, yet is capable of being quickned and inspir'd with the life of Action; but the worker of Iniquity, who is commonly the result of the unworking Person, takes courses which tend to an irrevivable Destruction. The first is but that Malefactor in Posse, which the Thief and Robber is in Esse; and doubtless were the Potential Maleficence, which is Idle∣ness, severely inquired into, and regulated by the Discipline of Law and Government, so many of the Kings Subjects would not yearly at every Session and Assize, as Essen∣tial Malefactors, be made sad Examples of Justice, and cut off from the Land of

the Living, to which in this World there is no return. But what hath been said all this while of the unworking Person, (whom to compel to work, that he may be kept from Starving, and restrain from Stealing, that he may be restrained from the Gallows, is no Injurious, but Cha∣ritable part of a Magistrate) it is to be understood only of those narrow Soul'd Loiterers, who being not worth a Groat in the World, choose rather to go squan∣dring up and down Beg, Filch and be Lowsy, than Honestly to get their Bread by clean∣ly Industry and wholesome Labour: Whereas for him that hath enough to Live on, who shall hinder him, if he please and have the Conscience, to be Idle and good for nothing at his own Charges: As for those who are great in Money, Lands, or High Offices, great also are their Priviledges; for the World hath ge∣nerally a very great favour and respect for such as flourish and are prosperous in it, (as well as contempt for the Poor and Unfortunate) and except they shall unfor∣tunately happen to become Envy'd-Fa∣vourites, will be apt to have a favourable excuse for whatsoever is either omitted or committed by them. However, there is a real merit that cannot be denyed them,

which is, that they have wherewithal to be serviceable to their King and Country: A Rich man, meerly as a Rich man, must needs be acknowledged a useful person in his Generation, especially if his Heart be answerable to his Purse, or however where something is to be had, there is a possibility of obtaining: On the other side, though it be just and rational to give Law to those who will not give Law to themselves, to compel men to their own as well as the publick good, to work that they may not Starve, to do well, that they may not suffer for doing ill. It is not yet so con∣sonant to reason, that any one should be forc'd to performance, though of things never so just, above Ability, or to make satisfactions out of nothing. That the Idle and Industrious alike, to satisfie the rigorous Justice of a Self-loving Creditor, should for being Idle or Unfortunate, be condemned to perpetual Idleness and Mis∣fortune, and for no other cause, than not working Impossibilities, be constrain'd to lie starving and stinking to death in a loathsom Gaol, is a piece of Judiciality. I do not understand, and I verily believe, that it is no less unjust, for any one to be Cruel and Rigorous in the exacting of his Own from him that Hath not, than for

him that Hath, to forbear the payment of what he Owes; who also, if not willing of himself, may and ought to be made so by force and rigour: Which may be in∣flicted otherwise than by Confinement, for a Prison is least a punishment to those that most deserve it. To conclude, a too rigorous procedure either to Death or Im∣prisonment, seems an over-acting in Justice, and as it were tending much alike to∣wards a kind of Depopulation; there be∣ing no great difference between not to be at all, and not to be at Liberty; the first totally, the second after a manner, depriv∣ing the World of those whose Lives and Liberties might happily have been usefully enough, spar'd for the Commonwealth.