134 ^- ^' ^5^0' 



a piece, are annually made at Bois-Ie-duc, as alfo great quantities of 

 knives, fine pins, mercery, &c. At Nivelle (five leagues from Brufi^ls) 

 they make great quantities of very fine cambric, as alfo at Cambray, 

 from which that fine manufadure has its name. At Courtray they 

 make fine table-linen ; at Tiel, linen cloth and buckrams ; at Ghent, 

 the cloth called from it ghenting, in prodigious quantities, and various 

 forts of fine linen, woollens, tapeflries, fuftians, buckrams, &c. 



At the fame time, fpeaking of the commerce of Amfterdam, he fays, 

 that fhips are conftantly feen in great numbers coming in and going 

 out, not only to and from other parts of the Netherlands, but alfo 

 France, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Livonia, Norway, 

 Sweden, &c. He obferves, that Veer (named alfo Campveer, or Ter- 

 veer) in Zealand, owes its principal commerce to its having been for 

 many years the fiaple port for all the Scottifti fhipping. In conclufion, 

 he pays the people of Holland the following fine compliment : They 

 have no wine growing in their country, yet they have great plenty of that 

 liquor ; nor flax of their own growth *, yet make the finefl linen in 

 the univerfe. They have no wool, either in good quality or quantity, 

 yet make infinite quantities of good cloth. They raife no timber, yet 

 they ufe more for fhips, dikes, &c. than perhaps all the reft of Europe 

 together. And here let us add what Sir "William Temple fays farther 

 by way of encomium on Holland above an hundred years later, viz. 

 ' Never any country traded fo much, and confumed fo httle. They 

 ' buy infinitely, but it is to fell again ; they are the great maftei^s of the 

 ' Indian fpices and Perfian filks, yet wear plain woollen, and feed upon 

 ' their own fifli and roots ; they fell the fineft of their own cloth to 



* France, and buy coarfe cloth out of England for their own wear ; they 

 ' fend abroad the beft of their own butter, and buy the cheapeft out 



* of Ireland, or the north of England, for their own ufe. In fhort, 



* they furniih infinite luxury, which they never pradife, and traffic in 

 ' pleafures which they never tafte.' 



' Thus, fays their own great De 'Witt, in his Interejl of Holland, are 



* diligence, vigilance, valour, and frugahty, not only natural to the Hol- 

 ' landers themfelves, but, by the nature of their country, are communi- 



* cated to all foreigners who inhabit among them.' 



This year (according to the judicious Mifi^elden, in his Circle of com- 

 merce, p. 55), Queen Elizabeth, by her charter confirmed all former 

 charters of privileges to the company of the merchants-adventurers of 

 England. This author affirms, that he took fpecial pains in the perufal 

 of all charters and grants to this company. Moreover, Wheeler (olten 

 already quoted) confirms this, and adds, that the queen granted them 

 two other ample charters, viz. one in the fixth, and another in the twen- 



* Great quantities of flax are ralfed now in Holland. 



