6o6 A. D. iCii. 



and that as they were at Li 00,000 annnual expenl'e for forts, foldiers, 

 &c. it would be n"«pofrible to carry on a profitable commerce if inter- 

 lopers were tolerated. Yet the interlopers went on with their voyages 

 to India ; one of whom, however, named Captain Thomas Sands, going- 

 out with a cargo of L50,ooo value, was, at the company's requefl, flop- 

 ped by the king ; and, after a long and curious trial, a decifion was 

 made by the chief-juflice Jeffreys in favour of" the company ; fo that 

 the fhip and cargo were fold off, to the proprietor's great lofs : notwith- 

 ftanding which the interlopers continued their voyages to India, being 

 encouraged by the opinions of fome of our greatefl lawyers, who freely 

 declared, that the king could not legally obflrucT: them by any charter 

 whatever granted to the company, unlefs their exclufive powers had the 

 fancftion of an a6t of parliament. Neverthelefs, King Charles fent a fhip 

 of war to India for the protedion of the company from interlopers and 

 pirates. 



According to Voltaire, Louis XIV was at this time maffer of above 1 00 

 fhips of the line, feveral of which carried 100 guns, and fome more, and 

 of 60,000 failors. He conftruded and fortified the famous ports of Toulon 

 and Brefl at a prodigious expenfe ; and Rochefort alfo, in fpite of na- 

 ture, was made a place of trade and naval force. 



So much had Colbert, the late prime minifler of France, applied him- 

 felf to the improvement of the naval affairs and commerce of France, 

 that the author of his life fays, that, in this year, the town of St. Male 

 alcnc fet forth in one month 6^ well-rigged fliips for the Newfoundland 

 fifhery, befides the fhips employed to the Levant, to Spain, and to the 

 Wefl-Indies, and had alfo ten fhips on the flocks. 



Piiffendorff obferves, that at this time the French king's revenue was 

 coiTiputed at 150 millions of livres ; whereas, he obferves, that in the 

 laft age it did not amount to above nine or ten millions ; in the time 

 of Henry IV to 16 millions; and in the year 1639, to 77 millions, 

 which vaft difference is chiefly to be afcribed to the different value of 

 money fince thofe limes, and partly alfo to the great taxes impofed 011 

 the fubjeds. 



Andrew Yarranton, in a work entitled England's improvement hy fea 

 and land, {2 V. 4to) afferts, that tin plates, (i. e. iron plates tinned over) 

 were now made in England through his means, he having been employ- 

 ed by fome gentlemen to go to Bohemia, where he learned the manner 

 of making them. When he returned home, he fet proper perlbns to 

 work, who made better ones than any he had feen abroad, the metal 

 being better, and the plates more pliable. But a patent being obtained 

 by fome great man at court, who had fmelt out the fcheme, for the fole 

 making of them, that manufadure was dropped by his employers, who 

 had with fo much charge made the difcovery. 



That manufad Lire remained for many years unpradifed in England, 



