io8 A. D. 1550. 



dia a country trade, without having any houfe or fadory there, i. 6. a 



trade by voyaging from Batavia thither, and back again to Batavia, or 

 to fome other port in India ; and it is fa id, that during their fhorr ftay 

 in Japan, they are always fhut up till their departure in a fmal! ifland 

 near the port of Nangafaki. The produftions of that great and opu- 

 lent empire, are corn and rice, in great abundance; the fineft of tea, 

 porcelain and lacquered ware, far exceeding thofe of China ; filk, cot- 

 ton, drugs, coral, ivory, diamonds, pearls, and other pretious ftones ; 

 alfo much gold and filver, fine copper, iron, lead, and tin. And the 

 Dutch, in exchange, carry thither woollen and linen cloths, looking- 

 glafles and other glafs-ware from Europe, and alio the various merchan- 

 dize of India, Perfia, and Arabia. 



I 551 . — Provifions appear to have been very dear at this time in Scot- 

 land ; for an aft was paffed [Mar. pari, v, c. 25.] ' anent the ordouring 

 ' of every mannis houfe ;' which limited archbifhops, bifliops, and earls, 

 to eight diHies of meat ; abbats, priors, and deans, to fix ; barons and 

 freeholders to four ; and burgefies and fubflantial men, w^hether fpirit- 

 nal or temporal, to three ; and decreed that only one kind of meat 

 ihould be in each difli. Marriage feafts, and entertainmeijts made for 

 foreigners by the lords fpiritual and temporal and the magiftrates of 

 burghs, are exempted from the rigour of this fumptuary law. 



Sixty vellels failed this year from Southampton loaded with wool for 

 the Netherlands. So great was the demand for the woollen manufadures 

 of that country even now when England liad made a confiderable pro- 

 grefs in the fame manufafture. 



1552. — Th.e ftatute [37 Hen. VIII, c. 9.] for fixing the interefi of mo- 

 ney at ten per cent was now repealed, and an a<ft palled [5, 6 Edw. VI^ 

 c. 20.] prohibiting all perfons from lending or forbearing any fum of 

 money for iijiiry or increafe above the fum lent to be received or hoped for, 

 upon pain of forfeiting the fum lent and the increafe, with imprifon- 

 ment and fine at the king's pleafure. 



We have fecn under the year 1515 a fi:atute for afcertaining the 

 length, breadth, and weight of Englifli woollen cloths ; as alfo another 

 more ample fiiatute in the year 1549, for more fully regulating the dif- 

 ferent kinds of them. In this year we have another fl:ill more extenfive 

 law for the like purpofe [5, 6 Edzv. VI, c. 6], wherein the Vv'ooUen ma- 

 nufactures of all the different counties of England and Wales are afcer- 

 tained, with refpeft; to lengths, breadths, weight, &c. whereby all for- 

 mer flatutes concerning this fubjed are repealed. Yet, as perfedl as this 

 fiatute might then be thought, there were many more fubfequent ones 

 made on the fame fubjed, not only for afcertaining the true dimenfions 

 and weight of cloths, but for difcovering and reftraining frauds and ir- 

 regularities in the manufadure ; the full recital of which would be both 

 tirefome and unprofitable to the generality of readers. 



