A. D. 1603. 231 



According to Sir William Monfoii, [Naval tracis, p. 294] there were 

 not above four merchant fhips now in England of four hundred tons 

 burthen. 



King James ilTued a proclamation for annulling feveral monopolies, 

 and at the opening of his firft parliament fpoke fharply againfl them ; 

 although afterward he gave great encouragement to them, 



Henry IV, king of France, feeing that it was in vain to prohibit the- 

 exportation of gold and lilver, unlefs thofe things for which they were 

 fent were made at home, that the ufe of filk was become fo common 

 (more efpecially among the fair-fex) that they defpifed the woollen 

 clothes fo univerfally and frugally worn by their anceftors, redoubled 

 his exertions, during the prefent feafon of tranquillity, to encourage and 

 extend the propagation of filk-worms, and the manutadure of filk. He 

 procured workmen to conduct a manufa6ture of tapeftry from Flanders, 

 where it had long flourhhed, and alfo introduced the manufadure of 

 fine earthen ware from the Netherlands. He revived the glafs-houfes 

 which had been firft fet up in the reign of Henry II, in imitation of 

 thofe at Venice, and fet up a linen manufadure. He alfo made rivers 

 navigable ; and his attempt to unite the Loire and the Seine, at a vaft 

 expenfe, was a laudable, though unfuccefsful, undertaking. In his 

 buildings, gardens, &c. his improvements (hewed the greatnefs of his ge-- 

 nius for the arts. [Thua?n Hift. L. cxxix.] 



It was not till this year that the French began to fettle in the coun- 

 try called Canada, or New France, on the north fide of the river St. Lau- 

 rence, .near the place named Trois Rivieres, but they did not get fo high 

 as Quebec till the year 1608. They proceeded to fettle on the north 

 fide only of that river, between Quebec and Montreal, till 1629, when 

 Sir David Kirk reduced the whole to the obedience of England. 



The weekly bills of mortality at London began now to be regularly 

 kept as in our days ; yet many of thofe bills in earlier times have been 

 loft. And even the bills in their moft modern condition afford but an im- - 

 perfed conjedure of the magnitude of London, as comprehending only 

 the chriftenings and burials of thofe of the eftablifhed church, although 

 the difi'enters of all denominations are very numerous. Thoie alfo who ■ 

 are buried in St. Paul's cathedral, in the abbey-church at Weftminfter, 

 in the Temple church, the Rolls chapel, Lincoln's Inn chapel, the Charter- 

 houfe, the Tower, and fome other pai'ts, are fiid to be entirely omitted, 

 Before the laft plague of 1665, the yearly bills were much more fre- 

 quently filled with that dileaTe than, to our comfort, they have been 

 fince, ov.'ing probably to the move airy and open rebuilding of London • 

 aftei tlie great coiitlagration wy the year 1666, and the greater plenty of. 

 fweet water. 



