THE STRUGGLE FOR MANUFACTURES 495 



making footing. In the matter of alum, however, although it 

 seems clear that Lord Mountjoy did succeed in producing some 

 quantity, we must come to the conclusion that the business 

 was not a financial success, and that the amount produced 

 was too small to affect the market in any way. Against this view 

 is to be set the complaint of the Bristol merchants in 157 1 of the 

 decay of their trade, owing in part, they allege, to the circum- 

 stance that alum, which had hitherto come from abroad, was 

 now made better and cheaper in this country ; but the true 

 cause of the decay, so far as it concerned the alum trade, was 

 in all probability that the importers found London and South- 

 ampton more convenient ports for their purpose. There is no 

 doubt that throughout the reign of Elizabeth alum was regu- 

 larly imported from abroad, and principally from the Papal 

 States. In the Armada times the Spaniards seized, in the 

 Straits of Gibraltar, a ship laden with alum on its way from 

 Civita Vecchia to England. The Pope made most energetic 

 protests against the seizure, but apparently without result. A 

 few years later, in 1596, a similar capture was followed by 

 protests from the Pope. In this case the King of Spain finally 

 agreed to restore the value of the alum, but he could not be 

 persuaded to give up the English ships in which it was laden. 



A paper of the year 1595, setting forth an estimate of the 

 yearly consumption, indicates no other source of supply than 

 the Papal States. The quantity mentioned in this estimate is 

 8,000 to 10,000 quintals ; the consumption fifty years earlier was 

 but 4,000 quintals. 



The alum and copperas works were carried on during the 

 lifetime of the Earl of Huntingdon by his lessees. Phillip 

 Smyth, the lessee in 1591, soon after the expiry of the mono- 

 poly granted to Lord Mountjoy in 1566, petitioned for a 

 renewal. He had leased the works for twenty-one years at a 

 great rent, and he alleged that "he has now through his ex- 

 ceeding great travell and industry brought the works to such 

 perfection, as they are not only able to furnish this realme but 

 other countries with those commodities." Other people, how- 

 ever, are now about to set up works, and he will be ruined 

 unless he is protected by a patent. This attempt to renew the 

 monopoly, equally with another made in 1593 by the Earl on his 

 own behalf, met with no success. At the death of the Earl in 

 1 595 the works were discontinued. This marks the end of an 



