300 A. D. 1620. 



ftill worfe, unlefs we could likewife fupprefs the commerce of all the other 

 nations of Europe to India ; and efpecially that of the Dvuch, to whom, 

 in fuch cafe, we fhould be obliged to pay fuch prices as they fhould 

 pleafe to impofe for their Indian wares.' As Mr. Munn was an emi- 

 nent merchant, and feems perfedly mafter of his fubjed, we thought 

 fuch a brief view of the Eaft-India trade at that time would be curious 

 and acceptable. 



In all the accounts hitherto publifhed of our Eafl-India commerce, 

 there is no mention of cinnamon ; becaufe the Portuguefe being ftill 

 pofTeffed of the ifle of Ceylon, where alone the beft is produced, that 

 fpice was to be had only from Lifbon. 



King James, in fome of his fpeeches, and the people of England in 

 general, duely confidering the great advantages reaped by other Europ- 

 ean nations from their filk manufactures, about this time teftified much 

 earneftnefs for the propagation of filk worms, and of white mulberry 

 trees, for feeding the filk worms ; which however has hitherto not fuc- 

 ceeded, perhaps owing to the coldnefs of our climate. But with refpecl 

 to the manufadure of raw filk into broad filk fabrics, they began about 

 this time to fet about it in earneft. For which end, one Mr. Burla- 

 mach, a merchant, by the direcftion of the king, brought from beyond 

 fea filk-throwfters, filk-dyers, and broad-weavers ; and the manufacture 

 has in procefs of time proved fo extremely advantageous to the na-tion, 

 and is fo very confiderable in our days, as to be thought to employ no 

 fewer than at leaft fifty thoufand people in all its branches, and fome 

 think half as many more. Mr. Munn, in his treatife, fays, that even 

 then many hundreds of people were continually employed in winding, 

 twifting, and weaving filk in London. The anonymous author of an 

 ingenious pamphlet, in 4to, publifhed in 1681 (faid to have been Sir 

 jofiah Child), gives it as his opinion, that throughout Chriftendom, ge- 

 nerally fpeaking, there are more men and women employed in filk ma- 

 nufactures than in the woollen ; in which we muft beg leave to differ 

 from him ; as alfo in another afl'ertion in that piece, viz. that the num- 

 ber of families already [i. e. 1681] employed therein in England 

 amounted to above 40,000. Nevertheleis, there are abundance of very 

 juft reflecftions in the pamphlet, which is entitled, A treatife, wherein is 

 demonjlrateel that the Eajl-India trade is the nio/i natioiial of all trades. 



King James commillioned certain phyficians, merchants, grocers, and 

 apothecaries, to direct; the garbling of the drug called tobacco, and to 

 feparate the good from the unwholefome parts thereof. The king, in 

 bis commillion, complains that the duty he had laid on tobacco was not 

 well paid : and the commiffion was probably intended for the better 

 ;ifcertaining that duty. {Foedera, V. xvii, p. 190.] 



King James iflued his proclamation, importing, that whereas Roger 

 North, Efq. and others, adventurers for an intended plantation and let- 



