if right use were made of them: Believe me Sir, much assistance would be had from them, besides the delivering of the gaols, and trying of causes between party and party, if the King by himself (which were the best) or by his Chancellor did give them the charge according to occurrences at their going forth, and receive a particular accompt from them at their return home; They would then to the best intelligencers of the true state of the Kingdom, and the surest means to prevent or remove all growing mischiefs within the body of the Realm. Next to the Judges, let care be taken that the Serjeants at Law be such as are most probable to be made Judges in the next turn, and never to be advanced to that state and degree (for it is so stiled) for favour or for reward, but only with an eye upon the public good. For the King's Counsel at Law, the King's particular interest will easily persuade him, and those who love his service, to make choice of the most eminent and most active; their experience in these places will make them able for any employment in that profession afterwards. In the Laws we have a native interest, it is our Birth-right and our Inheritance, and I think the whole Kingdom will always continue that mind which once the two Houses of Parliament publicly professed, Nolumus Legem Angliæ mutare: under a Law we must live, and under a known Law, and not under an arbitrary Law is our happiness that we do live; and the Justices of Peace, if a good choice be made of them, are excellent instruments to this state.

III. For matter of state and affairs proper for Council board, I dare not take upon me to say much; they are secreta & arcana, and are not fit to descend to too low, to too petty matters, or private interests. Let the King be president of this Council himself, not so much by personal presence, (but only in great and weighty affairs): that may overawe the board too much, where in Councils there should be a freedom of discourse and of determination: but in pursuing the acts of his Council table. And I do heartily wish that the Councillors themselves would be so advised in their resolutions, that they should never be sudden, but that all things there propounded and debated one day, should be revised the next, and then confirmed, or altered upon second thoughts. Such gravity in their proceedings would much become the honour of that Board; and what is thus settled, should not be altered again but upon great necessity.

In the choice of Privy Councillors, thus much only in the general, that there may be some of the number who are severally versed in all knowledges, for their better assistance upon Councils of that nature; And although to some persons of great birth, the place of Princes1 Councellors may be bestowed as an honour unto them, yet generally the motive should be the Parts of the man and not his Person.

IV. The Negotiations of Ambassadors, and Treaties with foreign Princes and Estates, the subject matter of the Treaty must guide the choice of the persons to be employed. But give me leave, I pray, to remember unto you the constant practice of that famous and wise Lady Q. Elizabeth (who was very happy, not so much in a numerous as a wise Councel to advise her.) If it were an Embassy of Gratulation or Triumph, she ever made choice of a person of honour and eminency in his degree, who taking the employment as a work of favour was willing to undertake it at an easy rate for the expense of the Crown (which hath not often been so of later times :) But if it were upon some matter of importance from the State, there were always employed (at least joined in the Commission3) some persons of great judgment and known experience, and in such cases men over-green in years were never the principal agents; yet some younger men were joined with the elder, to train them up in state affairs.

V. For matter of war, either by land or sea, your gracious Master [is] so settled in his judgment for peace, as he hath chosen for his Motto that part of our Saviour's beatitudes, Beati pacifici; It is a happiness to this nation to be in this blessed condition; God send we surfeit not with it; yet I must tell you, the best way to continue a secure peace, is to be prepared for a war. Security is an ill guard for a Kingdom. But this Kingdom, where the Seas are our Walls, and the Ships our Bulwarks, where safety and plenty (by trade) are concomitant, it were both a sin and a shame to neglect the means to attain unto these ends: Let brave spirits that have fitted themselves for command, either by sea or by land, not to be laid by, as persons unneces

2 So in the original. It should apparently be "In the."

3 The end of the parenthesis is not marked in the original.

sary for the time; let Arms and Ammunition of all sorts be provided and stored up, as against a day of battle; let the ports and forts be fitted so, as if by the next wind we should hear of an alarum; such a known providence is the surest protection. But of all wars, let both Prince and People pray against a war in our own bowels: The King by his wisdom, justice, and moderation must foresee and stop such a storm, and if it fall must allay it, and the people by their obedience must decline it. And for a foreign war intended by an invasion to enlarge the bounds of our1 Empire, which are large enough, and are naturally bounded with the ocean, I have no opinion either of the justness or fitness of it, and it were a very hard matter to attempt it with help of success, seeing the subjects of this kingdom believe it is not legal for them to be enforced to go beyond the seas without their own consent, upon hope of an unwarranted conquest; But to resist an invading enemy, or to suppress rebels, the subject may and must be commanded out of the counties where they inhabit. The whole kingdom is but one entire body, else it will necessarily be verified, which elsewhere was asserted, Dum singuli pugnamus, omnes vincimur.

VI. But in the next place for foreign Plantations and Colonies abroad, thats both honourable and profitable to disburthen the land of such inhabitants as may well be spared, and to employ their labours in the conquest of some foreign parts without injury to the natives. Yet these cautions are to be observed in these undertakings.

1. That no man be compelled to such an employment; for that were a banishment, not a service fit for a freeman.

2. That if any transplant themselves into plantations abroad, who are known schismaticks, outlaws, or criminal persons, that they may be sent for back upon the first notice: such persons are not fit to lay the foundation of a new colony.

3. To make no extirpation of the natives under pretence of planting Religion: God surely will no way be pleased with such sacrifices.

4. That the people sent thither be governed according to the laws of this realm, whereof they are and still must be subjects.

1 The original has "your."

2 So in original. A misprint, I think, for "hope."
3 So in original. A mistake, I think, for "it is."

5. To establish there the same purity of Religion, and the same discipline for Church-Government without any mixture of Popery or Anabaptisme; lest they should be drawn into factions and schisms, and that place receive them there bad, and send them back worse.

6. To employ them in profitable trades and manufactures, such as the clime will best fit, and such as may be useful to this Kingdom, and return to them an exchange of things necessary.

7. That they may be furnished and instructed for the military part, as they may defend themselves; lest on a sudden they be exposed as a prey to some other nation, when they have fitted the colony for them.

8. To order a trade thither, and thence, in such a manner as some few merchants and tradesmen, under colour of furnishing the colony with necessaries, may not grind them, so as shall always keep them in poverty.

9. To place over them such Governors as may be qualified in such manner as may1 govern the place, and lay the foundation of a new kingdom.

10. That care be taken that when the industry of one man hath settled the work, a new man by insinuation or misinformation may not supplant him without a just cause; which is the discouragement of all faithful endeavours.

11. That the King will appoint Commissioners in the nature of a Council, who may superintend the works of this nature, and regulate what concerns the colonies, and give an accompt thereof to the King or to his Council of State.

VII. For matter of Trade, I confess it is out of my profession, yet in that I shall make a conjecture also, and propound some things to you, whereby (if I am not much mistaken) you may advance the good of your country and profit of your Master.

1. Let the foundation of a profitable Trade be thus laid, that the exportation of home commodities be more in value than the importation of foreign, so we shall be sure that the stocks of the kingdom shall yearly increase, for then the balance of trade must be returned in money or bullion.

2. In the importation of foreign commodities, let not the merchant return toys and vanities (as sometimes it was else1 So in original. It should be "they may."

1

where Apes and Peacocks) but solid merchandize, first for necessity, next for pleasure, but not for luxury.

3. Let the vanity of the times be restrained, which the neighbourhood of other nations have induced, and we strive apace to exceed our pattern; Let vanity in apparel, and which is more vain, that of the fashion be avoided. I have heard that in Spain (a grave nation, whom in this I wish we might imitate) they do allow the players and courtesans the vanity of rich and costly cloaths, but to sober men and matrons they permit it not, upon pain of infamy (a severer punishment upon ingenious natures than a pecuniary mulct.)

4. The excess of diet in costly meats and drinks fet from beyond the seas would be avoided; wise men will do it without a law, I would there might be a law to restrain fools. The excess of wine costs the kingdom much, and returns nothing but surfeits and diseases: were we as wise as easily we might be, within a year or two at the most, if we would needs be drunk with wines, we might be drunk with half the cost.

5. If we must be vain and superfluous in laces and embroideries which are more costly than either warm or comely, let the curiosity be the manufacture of the natives: then it should not be verified of us Materiam superabat opus.

6. But in stead of crying up all things which are either brought from beyond sea or wrought here by the hands of strangers, let us advance the native commodities of our own kingdom, and employ our country-men before strangers: let us turn the wools of the land into cloaths and stuffs of our own growth, and the hemp and flax growing here into linen cloth and cordage; it would set many thousand hands on work, and thereby one shilling worth of the materials would by industry be multiplied to five, ten, and many times to twenty times more in the value being wrought.

7. And of all sorts of thrift for the public good, I would above all others commend to your care the encouragement to be given to Husbandry, and the improving of lands for tillage: there is no such usury as this. The King cannot enlarge the bounds of these Islands, which make up his Empire, the Ocean being the unremovable wall which encloseth them, but he may enlarge and multiply the revenue thereof by this honest and harmless way of good husbandry.