all garisoned with Normans, who treated the English inhabitants with all the insolencies and barbarities imaginable. This was the reason of building so many castles, in so few years after the conquest; that, about the reign of King Stephen, and Henry the Fifth, about eleven-hundred of these castles were demolished by publick autho rity, in regard that, by that time, they were become a most insupportable grievance to the nation.

The conqueror practised all the ways he could imagine, to ex. tinguish, as well as impoverish the English; and, in pursuance to that design, it was his usual policy to employ them always in his most desperate service. He likewise made use of every opportunity, to engage the English in the destruction of one another, and the cir cumstances of affairs afforded him an occasion for it. Many of the English nation, being fled into Denmark and Ireland, made war upon England several times, in conjunction with these two nations. The conqueror always made use of English armies, under English leaders, to oppose them; and though fortune commonly declared herself, in most of those battles, in favour of the Norman conqueror, yet the victory was seldom obtained without great slaughter of the English on both sides; neither did he care how many of them perished, provided the consequence was not destructive to his interest.

When he came to be well fixed in the possession of his new con. quest, he degraded the few noblemen that were left, and conferred their titles and estates upon his own countrymen; to the intent, that no Englishman, of any quality or interest, should be left in the na tion. He would often glory in this piece of policy, and as often de. ride the imprudence of that good-natured king, Canutus the Dane, who, having subdued England, restored the English to their former possessions; whereby it came to pass, that, after his death, they easily expelled the Danes out of the kingdom, and reinstated the Saxon line upon the throne. It is commonly a conqueror's policy, to abolish all that was in use amongst the conquered people; neither was he wanting in that respect, for he altered most of the laws and customs of the country. Their very speech was so much abhorred, that the laws were pleaded in the French tongue, and the children, in schools, were taught their letters, and rudiments of grammar, in the French language.

He charged upon the nation threescore-thousand knights fees, which provided him so many horsemen, well accoutred, whenever he had occasion to make use of them. The possessions of the clergy were not exempted from this service; which, in all former ages, had been privileged from all temporal incumberances.

The king had given the earldom of Northumberland to one Robert, sirnamed Cummin, who marched thither, with a considerable body of men, to take possession of his earldom. The Northern people, hearing of his coming, prepared to resist him, and at Durham, they destroy him, and rout his party. The king comes with an army to the North, to revenge the death of the earl; in his march, he killed

and plundered all he met with; and, when he arrived in the north, he committed such a general devastation, that, the next year, there was so great a dearth throughout all England, and especially in Northumberland, and the countries next adjoining, that men were forced to eat horse-flesh, cats, dogs, and man's flesh. And all the land, betwixt Durham and York, lay waste, without inhabitants to till the ground, for the space of nine years following.

He plundered all the monasteries and abbies in England, of all their gold and silver, not sparing even the chalices and shrines. In these places he found vast sums of money, which were hid there, by other people, for fear of the Normans.

Having ruined the laity, he was resolved the clergy should fare no better. He hindered all the English from being preferred to any vacant churches, and, to rid his hands of those that were in possession, by the consent of the Pope, he summoned a great council, to be held at Winchester, where the Archbishop of Canterbury, and several other bishops, abbots, and others, were deprived of their livings, to make room for the greedy Normans.

He oppressed the English nobility and gentry so intolerably, with a design to force them to rebel against him, that from thence he might have a more colourable pretence, to destroy them and their families.

What I have in particular said of this conquest, is not the twentieth part of the people's sufferings, neither will my intended brevity per. mit me to enlarge upon this subject; for, if all the burnings of towns, slaughters of people, the several torments which were in. flicted upon the inhabitants, and the oppressions of all sorts, which they endured, were mentioned, it would afford matter enough for a volume; but what I have declared, is sufficient to let us see what miseries our forefathers underwent, as also to oblige as many of us, as have a grain of sense, or courage left, to exert our utmost abilities, to prevent the like destruction from falling upon these populous and flourishing kingdoms.

Our malecontents are very much mistaken, if they expect any better usage from a French conqueror, at this day, than their ances tors did meet, in former times, from the taskmasters of the same country. For let them assure themselves, that Lewis the Fourteenth is as well versed in the methods of villainy and cruelty, as ever the Norman was, or could pretend himself to be. His arts do far outdo all that went before him, for, besides the calamities which our fore fathers suffered, he hath others in store, which are much more insufferable, some of which follow:

First, You shall have a king, that fears neither God nor man, that never observes his oath, nor keeps any promise, made with his subjects or strangers.

You shall be governed by a prince, that is arbitrary in the highest degree; your lives and fortunes will be absolutely at his disposal, who values the life of a subject, not so much as another man values the life of an ordinary dog..

Forts, citadels, and standing armies will be your continual plagues, Nobility and gentry must down, and betake themselves to the plough, to make room for the insolent monsieur.

A dog's life (hunger and ease) will be much better than yours; for you must be very industrious, though the fruits of your labour must wholly result into the king's coffers; you shall sow wheat, but shall not eat one bit of the bread thereof, throughout the whole year.

You shall be continually subject to as great a burthen of taxes, as your backs can bear, or your slavish industry pay. To prevent extravagancy, you shall be constrained to wear the meanest cloaths, and, for good husbandry, you shall trot about in wooden shoes, alamode de France.

These are the blessings, which a French despotical power brings along with it. But this is not all that a protestant country is to endure under the monsieur's tyranny, for he will make your souls suffer, as well as your bodies; and, therefore, I shall give you a short account of the compendious means, he will make use of, to pervert protestants to the idolatrous popish religion. He will send his infallible apostolick dragoons amongst you; and this is their way of discipline, in case you do not readily comply with them. The first compliment they use, is to quarter themselves, by violence, in your houses, and take especial care you do not make your escapes, or hide any of your goods or effects; then they will proceed to consume all the provisions you have in your houses, and seize upon all money, rings, plate, jewels, &c. and, in short, whatever they can lay hands on, and, afterwards, will expose your goods to publick sale, to the neighbouring towns and villages.

Having thus disposed of your goods, in the next place, they fall upon your persons, and there is no wickedness, or horror, which they will not put in practice, to force you to change your religion, They will hang men and women, by the hair or feet, on the roofs of the chambers, or chimney-hooks, and smoak them with wisps of wet hay, till they will be no more able to bear it; and, when they have taken them down, if they will not sign to what shall be proposed to them, they will hang them up immediately.

Another way they make use of, is, to throw people on great fires, kindled for that purpose, and forcibly keep them there, till they are half roasted. They also tie a rope under their arms, and plunge them to and fro into wells, till they promise to quit their religion and con. science; and, in this posture, with a funnel filled with wine, they pour it down their throats, till the fumes of it deprive their reason, and then they obtain their consents to be catholicks, as they call them.

Others they strip stark naked, and, after having offered them a thousand infamous indignities, they stick them with pins from head to toe.

Some they cut, in several places, with pen-knives; and sometimes, with red-hot pincers, they take them by the nose, and, after that, drag them about the room, till they promise to comply.

Others they beat with staves, and drag them, all bruised, to the

churches, where their forced presence will be accounted for an ab juration.

Some they keep from sleep, for seven or eight days together, re lieving one another, to watch them night and day, to keep them awake continually.

They use to throw buckets of water, and torment them a hundred ways besides, holding, over their heads, kettles turned downwards, and drum upon them continually, till the poor creatures have lost their senses.

If they find any sick (either men or women) that keep their beds, distempered with fevers, or other diseases, their way is, to bring about twelve elrums, beating an alarm, at the bed-side, for whole weeks together, without intermission.

It is their usual practice, upon these occasions, to tie fathers and husbands to the bed-posts, and ravish their wives and daughters be fore their faces. They pluck off the nails of the hands and toes of others; they blow up some with bellows, even till they are ready to burst.

These, and ten-thousand other villainous ways, the jesuitical spirit hath found out, to make new converts. Whoever hath the curiosity to see them, let him but peruse the history of the persecution of the protestants in France, and he will find, that the ten primitive perse. cutions were but mercies, in comparison of those monstrous tor ments, lately invented, and put in practice upon those miserable creatures, by the order of the christian Turk, Lewis the Fourteenth.

If you fall into French hands, you see what is like to become of you; your bodies will be condemned to irretrievable slavery; and your souls (as far as it lies in their power) shaH be consigned to the devil. If you are not so wise, as to regard either body or soul, I have done with you, and so farewel.

REASONS FOR

SETTLING ADMIRALTY-JURISDICTION,

AND

GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT TO

MERCHANTS, OWNERS, COMMANDERS, MASTERS OF SHIPS, MATERIAL MEN, AND MARINERS.

Humbly offered to the Consideration of his Majesty, and the two Houses of Parliament.

Printed in the year 1690. Quarto, containing twenty-two pages.

THERE is nothing can conduce more to the peopling and inrich

ing a kingdom, or commonwealth, than a free and open trade; and, as that by sea is the principal source of such happiness, it may very

VOL. IX.

Hh

well deserve the government's most particular care and application to advance it.

And since this is no other way to be done, but by enabling the king to set forth fleets for the merchants security abroad, and establishing good laws for defending them in their rights and properties at home, it is most humbly proposed, whether this may not be effected with the greatest ease and advantage, by resettling the admiralty-jurisdiction, and restoring the ancient power of enrolling mariners.

Usage and experience were always accounted very good directors; and therefore, the better to accomplish this design, it may not be im proper, in the first place, to give a short account of the methods ob. served by our ancestors, in whose times our sea-dominion was at the greatest height, and trade in as flourishing condition as those ages would admit: And, in the next place, to consider of the best means to improve these methods, and adapt them to the present times.

The sea-coasts of England were anciently divided into several vice admiralties, viz. 1. Northumberland, Durham, and York. 2. Lin. coln. 3. Norfolk. 4. Suffolk. 5. Essex. 6. Kent. 9. Dorset. 10. Devon. 11. South

7. Sussex. Cornwall.

15. South

8. Southampton. 12. North Cornwall. 13, Somerset. 14. Gloucester. Wales. 16. North Wales. 17. Chester. 18. Lancaster. 19. West. morland and Cumberland.

Each of these places (the port of London being immediately under the admiralty-court, as to this matter) had a particular vice-admiral, who had power to hold a sessions once in the year, or oftener, if oc. casion required, and to call before him, or his officer, all seafaring men and mariners, living within his district or division, and then and there to enroll all their names and places of abode, taking account, likewise, of all ships within their jurisdiction.

This was the method used several hundred of years since, as ap pears by certain maritime laws and ordinances, registered in the an. cient authentick Black Book of the admiralty; four articles of which are as follow.

1. Puisque l'homme est fait * admiral, premierement luy fault or donner & substituer dessoubs luy pour estre ses lieutenants, deputeż, & autres officiers, des plus loyaulx, sages, & discrets en la loy ma. rine, & anciens coustomes de la mer qu'il pourra en aucune part trouver, par ainsy que par l'aide de Dieu, & leur bonne & droitture governaill l'office pourra estre gouverne a l'honneur & prouffit du royalme.

2. Item, Apres doit l'admiral en toute la haste qu'il bonnement pourra escripte a tous ses lieutenants, deputez, & autres officiers quelconques par tous les costez de la mer, parmy tout la royalme pour savoir combien de nefs, barges, balengers, & autres vesseaulx de guerre le roy pourra avoir en son royalme, quant lui plest, ou mes tier lui fera, & de quel portage ils sont, & aussi les noms des seig. neurs & possesseurs d'icelles.

Litera A n. 1. 2. 3.