PLANTATIONS are amongst
ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young, it begat more
children; but now it is old, it begets fewer: for I may justly account new
plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I like a plantation in a
pure soil; that is, where people are not displanted, to the end to plant in
others; for else it is rather an extirpation than a plantation. Planting of
countries is like planting of woods; for you must make account to lose almost
twenty years’ profit, and expect your recompense in the end: for the principal
thing that hath been the destruction of most plantations hath been the base and
hasty drawing of profit in. the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not
to be neglected as far as may stand with the good of the plantation, but no
further. It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people and
wicked condemned men to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but
it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall
to work, but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly
weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation.
The people wherewith you plant ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, labourers,
smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries,
surgeons, cooks, and bakers. In a country of plantation, first look about what
kind of victual the country yields of itself to hand: as chestnuts, walnuts,
pine-apples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild honey, and the like; and make
use of them. Then consider what victual or esculent things there are which grow
speedily and within the year; as parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, radish,
artichokes of Hierusalem, maize, and the like: for wheat, barley, and oats,
they ask too much labour; but with pease and beans you may begin, both because
they ask less labour, and because they serve for meat as well as for bread; and
of rice likewise cometh a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all,
there ought to be brought store of biscuit, oatmeal, flour, meal, and the like
in the beginning till bread may be had. For beasts or birds take chiefly such as
are least subject to diseases and multiply fastest; as swine, goats, cocks,
hens, turkeys, geese, house-doves, and the like. The victual in plantations
ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town; that is, with certain
allowance: and let the main part of the ground employed to gardens or corn, be
to a common stock; and to be laid in and stored up and then delivered out in
proportion; besides some spots of ground that any particular person will
manure5 for his own private, Consider likewise what commodities the soil where
the plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way help to defray
the charge of the plantation: so it be not as was said, to the untimely
prejudice of the main business, as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood
commonly aboundeth but too much; and therefore timber is fit to be one. If
there be iron ore, and streams whereupon to set the mills, iron is a brave
commodity where wood aboundeth. Making of bay-salt, if the climate be proper
for it, would be put in experience : growing silk0 likewise, if any be, is a
likely commodity: pitch and tar, where store of firs and pines are, will not
fail; so drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot but yield great profit:
soap-ashes likewise, and other things that may be thought of; but moil not too
much under ground, for the hope of mines is very uncertain, and useth to make
the planters lazy in other things. For government, let it be in the hands of
one, assisted with some council; and let them have commission to exercise martial
laws, with some limitation; and above all, let men make that profit of being in
the wilderness, as they have God always and his service before their eyes: let
not the government of the plantation depend upon too many counsellors and
undertakers in the country that planteth, but upon a temperate number; and let
those be rather noblemen and gentlemen than merchants; for they look ever to
the present gain. Let there be freedoms from custom till the plantation be of
strength; and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their
commodities where they may make their best of them, except there be some
special cause of caution, Cram not in people by sending too fast company after
company; but rather hearken’ how they waste, and send supplies proportionably;
but so as the number may live well in the plantation, and not by surcharge be
in penury. It hath been a great endangering to the health of some plantations
that they have built along the sea and rivers, in marish and unwholesome
grounds: therefore, though you begin there to avoid carriage and other like
discommodities, yet build still rather upwards from the streams than along. It
concerneth likewise the health of the plantation that they have good store of
salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals when it shall be
necessary. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with
trifles use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; and
do not win their favour by helping them to invade their enemies, but for their
defence it is not amiss; and send oft of them over to the country that plants,
that they may see a better condition than their own, and commend it when they
return. When the plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with
women as well as with men; that the plantation may spread into generations, and
not be ever pieced from without. It is the sinfullest thing in the world to
forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness; for, besides the
dishonour, it is the guiltiness of blood of many com miserable persons.
I CANNOT call riches
better than the baggage of virtue the Roman word is better,
"impedimenta;" for as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to
virtue; it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea
and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches
there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but
conceit; so saith Salomon, "Where much is, there are many to consume it;
and what hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes?" The personal
fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a custody of
them; or a power of dole and donative of them; or a fame of them; but no solid
use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones
and rarities? and what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might
seem to be some use of great riches? But then you will say they may be of use
to buy men out of dangers or troubles; as Salomon saith, "Riches are as a
stronghold in the imagination of the rich man;" but this is excellently
expressed, that it is in imagination and not always in fact: for certainly
great riches have sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not proud
riches, but such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully,
and leave contentedly; yet have no abstract nor friarly contempt of them; but
distinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthumus, "in studio rei
amplificandae, apparebat non ava- ritiae praedam, sed instrumentum bonitati
quaeri." Hearken also to Salomon, and beware of hasty gathering of riches;
"Qui festinat ad divitias non erit insons." The poets feign that when
Plutus (which is riches) is sent from Jupiter, he limps and goes slowly; but
when he is sent from Pluto, he runs and is swift of foot; meaning that riches
gotten by good means and just labour pace slowly; but when they come by the
death of others (as by the course of inheritance, testaments, and the like),
they come tumbling upon a man: but it might be applied likewise to Pluto,
taking him for the devil: for when riches come from the devil (as by fraud and
oppression and unjust means) they come upon speed. The ways to enrich are many,
and most of them foul: parsimony is one of the best, and yet is not innocent;
for it withholdeth men from works of liberality and charity. The improvement of
the ground is the most natural obtaining of riches; for it is our great mother’s
blessing, the earth’s; but it is slow; and yet, where men of great wealth do stoop
to husbandry it multiplieth riches exceedingly. I knew a nobleman in England
that had the greatest audits of any man in my time; a great grazier, a great
sheep-master, a great timber-man, a great collier, a great corn-master, a great
lead-man, and so of iron, and a number of the like points of husbandry; so as
the earth seemed a sea to him in respect of the perpetual importation. It was
truly observed by one, "That himself came very hardly to a little riches,
and very easily to great riches;" for when a man’s stock is come to that
that he can expect the prime of markets, and overcome those bargains, which for
their greatness are few men’s money, and be partner in the industries of
younger men, he cannot but increase mainly. The gains of ordinary trades and
vocations are honest, and furthered by two things chiefly: by diligence, and by
a good name for good and fair dealing; but the gains of bargains are of a more
doubtful nature, when men shall wait upon others’ necessity: broke by servants
and instruments to draw them on; put off others cunningly that would be better
chapmen, and the like practices which are crafty and naught As for the chopping
of bargains, when a man buys not to hold but to sell over again, that commonly
grindeth double, both upon the seller and upon the buyer. Sharings do greatly
enrich, if the hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury is the certainest
means of gain, though one of the worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his
bread, "in sudore vultus alieni;" and besides, doth plough upon
Sundays: but yet certain though it be, it hath flaws; for that the scriveners
and brokers do value unsound men to serve their own turn. The fortune in being
the first in an invention or in a privilege doth cause sometimes a wonderful
overgrowth in riches, as it was with the first sugar. man in the Canaries:
therefore, if a man can play the true logician, to have as well judgment as
invention, he may do great matters, especially if the times be fit: he that
resteth upon gains certain, shall hardly grow to great riches; and he that puts
all upon adventures, doth often times break and come to poverty: it is good
therefore to guard adventures with certainties that may uphold losses.
Monopolies and coemption of wares for resale, where they are not restrained,
are great means to enrich; especially if the party have intelligence what
things are like to come into request, and so store himself beforehand. Riches
gotten by service though it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by
flattery, feeding humours, and other servile conditions, they may be placed
amongst the worst. As for fishing for testaments and executors ships (as
Tacitus saith of Seneca, "Testamenta et orbos tanquam indagine
capi,") it is yet worse, by how much men submit themselves to meaner
persons than in service. Believe not much them that seem to despise riches, for
they despise them that despair of them; and none worse when they come to them.
Be not penny-wise; riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of
themselves, sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their
riches either to their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper
best in both. A great state’ left to an heir is as a lure to all the birds of
prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the stablished in years and
judgment: likewise, glorious gifts and foundations are like sacrifices without
salt; and but the painted sepulchres of alms, which soon will putrefy and
corrupt inwardly: therefore measure not thine advancements by quantity, but
frame them by measure: and defer not charities till death; for certainly, if a
man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man’s than
of his own.
IT cannot be denied but
outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favour, opportunity, death of
others, occasion fitting virtue: but chiefly the mould of a man’s fortune is in
his own hands: "Faber quisque fortunae suae," saith the poet; and the
most frequent of external causes is that the folly of one man is the fortune of
another; for no man prospers so suddenly as by others’ errors. "Serpens
nisi serpentem comederit non fit draco." Overt and apparent virtues bring
forth praise; but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune;
certain deliveries of a man’s self which have no name. The Spanish name,
"disemboltura," partly expresseth them; when there be not stonds nor
restiveness in a man’s nature, but that the wheels of his mind keep way with
the wheels of his fortune; for so Livy (after he had described Cato Major in
these words, "In illo viro, tantum robur corp oris et animi fuit, ut
quocunque loco natus esset fortunam sibi facturus videretur,") falleth
upon that that he had "versatile ingeniurn:" therefore, if a man look
sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she
is not invisible. The way of Fortune is like the milken way in the sky; which
is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving
light together: so are there a number of little and scarce discerned virtues,
or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate. The Italians note
some of them, such as a man would little think. When they speak of one that
cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other conditions, that he hath "Poco
di matto;" and certainly there be not two more fortunate properties than
to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest; therefore extreme
lovers of their country or masters were never fortunate; neither can they be;
for when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his own way.
An hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover; (the French hath it better,
"entreprenant," or "remuant;") but the exercised fortune
maketh the able man. Fortune is to be honoured and respected and it be but for
her daughters, Confidence and Reputation; for those two Felicity breedeth; the
first within a man’s self, the latter in others towards him. All wise men, to
decline the envy of their own virtues , use to ascribe them to Providence and
Fortune; for so they may the better assume them: and, besides, it is greatness
in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So Caesar said to the pilot in
the tempest, "Caesarem portas, et fortunam ejus." So Sylla chose the
name of "felix" and not of "magnus:" and it hath been
noted, that those who ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy,
end infortunate. It is written that Timotheus the Athenian, after he had, in
the account he gave to the state of his government, often interlaced this
speech, "And in this Fortune had no part," never prospered in
anything he undertook afterwards. Certainly there be whose fortunes are like
Homer’s verses, that have a slide h and easiness more than the verses of other
poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon’s fortune in respect of that of Agesilaus
or Epaminondas: and that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man’s self.
MANY have made witty
invectives against usury. They say that it is pity the devil should have God’s
part, which is the tithe, that the usurer is the greatest Sabbath-breaker,
because his plough goeth every Sunday; that the usurer is the drone that Virgil
speaketh of:
"Ignavum fucos
pecus a praesepibus arcent;"
that the usurer
breaketh the first law that was made for mankind after the fall, which was,
"in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum;" not, "in sudore
vultus alieni;" that usurers should have orange-tawny bonnets, because
they do Judaize; that it is against nature for money to beget money, and the
like. I say this only, that usury is a "concessum propter duritiem
cordis:" for since there must be borrowing and lending, and men are so
hard of heart as they will not lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some
others have made suspicious and cunning propositions of banks, discovery of men’s
estates, and other inventions; but few have spoken of usury usefully. It is
good to set before us the incommodities and commodities of usury, that the good
may be either weighed out or culled out; and warily to provide that, while we
make forth to that which is betterd, we meet not with that which is worse.
The discommodities of
usury are, first, that it makes fewer merchants; for were it not for this lazy
trade of usury, money would not lie still but would in great part be employed
upon merchandising, which is the "vena porta" of wealth in a state:
the second, that it makes poor merchants; for as a farmer cannot husband his
ground so well if he sit at a great rent, so the merchant cannot drive his
trade so well if he sit at great usury: the third is incident to the other two;
and that is, the decay of customs of kings or states, which ebb or flow with
merchandising: the fourth, that it bringeth the treasure of a realm or state
into a few hands; for the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties,
at the end of the game most of the money will be in the box; and ever a state
flourisheth when wealth is more equally spread: the fifth, that it beats down
the price of land; for the employment of money is chiefly either merchandising
or purchasing, and usury waylays both: the sixth, that it doth dull and damp
all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be
stirring if it were not for this slug : the last, that it is the canker and
ruin of many men’s estates, which in process of time breeds a public poverty.
On the other side, the
commodities of usury are, first, that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth
merchandising, yet in some other it advanceth it; for it is certain that the
greatest part of trade is driven by young merchants upon borrowing at interest;
so as if the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will ensue
presently a great stand of trade: the second is, that were it not for this easy
borrowing upon interest, men’s necessities would draw upon them a most sudden
undoing, in that they would be forced to sell their means (be it lands or
goods), far under footh; and so, whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad
markets would swallow them quite up. As for mortgaging or pawning, it will
little mend the matter: for either men will not take pawns without use, or if
they do, they will look precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel
moneyed man in the country that would say, "The devil take this usury, it
keeps us from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds." The third and last is,
that it is a vanity to conceive that there would be ordinary borrowing without
profit; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences that will
ensue, if borrowing be cramped: therefore to speak of the abolishing of usury
is idle; all states have ever had it in one kind or rate or other; so as that
opinion must be sent to Utopia.
To speak now of the
reformation and reglement of usury, how the discommodities of it may be best
avoided and the commodities retained. It appears, by the balance of com-
modities and discommodities of usury, two things are to be reconciled; the one
that the tooth of usury be grinded that it bite not too much; the other that
there be left open a means to invite moneyed men to lend to the merchants, for
the continuing and quickening of trade. This cannot be done except you
introduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a greater; for if you reduce
usury to one low rate, it will ease the common borrower, but the merchant will
be to seek for money: and it is to be noted that the trade of merchandise being
the most lucrative, may bear usury at a good rate: other contracts not so.
To serve both
intentions, the way would be briefly thus: that there be two rates of usury;
the one free and general for all; the other under licence only to certain
persons, and in certain places of merchandising. First therefore, let usury in
general be reduced to five in the hundred, and let that rate be proclaimed to
be free and current; and let the state shut itself out to takem any penalty for
the same; this will preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness; this
will ease infinite borrowers in the country; this will in good part raise the
price of land, because land purchased at sixteen years’ purchase will yield six
in the hundred and somewhat more, whereas this rate of interest yields but
five; this by like reason will encourage and edge industrious and profitable
improvements, because many will rather venture in that kind than take five in
the hundred, especially having been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there
be certain persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury at a higher
rate, and let it be with the cautions following: let the rate be, even with the
merchant himself, somewhat more easy than that he used formerly to pay; for by
that means all borrowers shall have some ease by this reformation, be he
merchant or whosoever; let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be
master of his own money; not that I altogether mislike banks, but they will
hardly be brooked in regard of certain suspicions. Let the state be answered
some small matter for the license, and the rest left to the lender; for if the
abatement be but small, it will no whit discourage the lender; for he for
example that took before ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to
eight in the hundred than give over his trade of usury, and go from certain
gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in number indefinite,
but restrained to certain principal cities and towns of merchandising; for then
they will be hardly able to colour other men’s moneys in the country: so as the
licence of nine will not suck away the current rate of five; for no man will
send his moneys far off, nor put them into unknown hands.
If it be objected that
this doth in a sort authorize usury, which before was in some places but
permissive; the answer is, that it is better to mitigate usury by declaration
than to suffer it to rage by connivance.