A. D. 1690. 647 



fort at St. John's river ; and ereded better forts in their ftead. The 

 French till now had, from Port-Royal, carried on a confidcrable trade 

 to the fugar ifles, &c. with fifh, lumber, and peltry. Yet King Wil- 

 liam's prelTures obliged him to reftore it to France by the treaty of Ryf- 

 wick, and fo it remained till the following century. 



So great is the quantity of timber in that country, and the adjacent 

 parts of New-England, that, in after years, the furveyor-general for the 

 woods of the crown of Great Britain in America had directions to fet 

 out 300,000 acres of the bell woodlands, in order to prcferve the white 

 pine trees for marts and other fhip timber, near the fea or navigable 

 rivers, for the navy ; which, it is hoped, will be ever carefully looked 

 after, whatever reports there may be of negleds therein. 



The number of houfes in England and Wales this year, as returned 

 by the books of the hearth duty at lady-day 1690, was 1,391,215; 

 which, at fix perfons to a houfe, makes the number of fouls 7,915,290, 

 or very near eight millions. [UAvenaiifs EJfay on ways and means of 

 fupp/jinj the war, Lofidori, i6gS-] So that, reckoning one million and 

 a half in Scotland, which may be near the truth, and two millions in 

 Ireland, which we have elfewhere fhewn to be near the truth, there is 

 good ground to believe, there may be at leaft eleven millions of fouls in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland : that author makes the houfes in York- 

 fhire to be 121,052; in Wales 77,921 ; and in London, Weftminfler, 

 and Middlefex, 111,215. 



Till about this time there was fcarce any other kind of paper made 

 in England but the coarfe brown fort. But the war with France oc- 

 cafioning high duties on foreign paper, the French proteftant refugees 

 fettled in England, and alfo our own few paper-makers, now began to 

 make white writing and printing paper : which, in length ot time, has 

 been brought to fo great perfedion, both for beauty and fubftance, 

 that, in our own time, we import only certain kinds of Genoa and Dutch 

 paper ; which, however, bears but a fmall proportion to all the paper 

 ufed in the Britifli dominions. How great a laving this has proved to 

 Britain, may partly be conceived from what has been often formerly 

 affirmed by fuch as were well acquainted therewith, viz. that to France 

 alone, from which we now take none even in time of peace, we paid 

 annually to the amount of Lroo,ooo for paper only. 



At this time, or a little before, fome mines of lead and copper were 

 found in the lands of Sir Carbery Price in Cardiganfhire, in South 

 Wales ; which requiring great expenfe to work, he this year divided 

 them into 24 fhares. This was the original rife of the mine-adventurers 

 company, by the mifmanagement of which fo many perfons and fami- 

 lies were greatly hurt, and others utterly ruined. In the year 1693, 

 that gentleman and his partners fubdivided their 24 fhares into 4,008 

 fhares, for the term of twenty-two years and an half; in which fundr) 



