90 



EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN. 



cloth. And as the linen is manufactured in England at this 

 day, it cannot be otherwise. And is it not a pity and shame 

 that the young children and maids here in England should be 

 idle within doors^ begging abroad, tearing hedges^ or robbing 

 orchards^ and worse, when these, and these alone, are the 

 people that may, and must if ever, set up this trade of making 

 fine linen here ? And after a young maid hath been three 

 years in the spinning- school, that is taken in at six and then 

 continues until nine years, she will get eight pence the day. 

 And in these parts I speak of, a man that has most children 

 lives best, whereas here he that has most is poorest. There 

 the children enrich the father — but here they beggar him. 



" I know these questions will be put or asked : first. Where 

 would you have this trade settled in England? Secondly, 

 How shall there be flax provided for to manage this trade ? 

 And thirdly. Where shall be stock at first, and where can we 

 have places to whiten ? I answer, Warwick, Leicester, North- 

 ampton, and Oxford shires are the places fit to set up this 

 manufacture, because in these countries there is at present no 

 staple trade, and the land there for flax is very good, being 

 rich and dry, wherein flax doth abundantly delight. And I 

 affirm, that the flax that grows in these parts shall do any 

 thing that the German or any other flax can do, provided it be 

 ordered accordingly. As to the second and third (as to flax 

 and stock), let each county begin with two thousand pounds stock 

 a piece immediately to provide houses as before set down, and 

 employ it as is directed. And for places to whiten, near all the 

 great towns there are brooks or rivers where bleaching-places 

 may be made in the lands adjoining, as it is in Southwark by 

 help of the flowing of the Thames. And for men and women to 

 govern the trade, I know in every county there are men suf- 

 ficient to direct and order it. 



" And observe, I pray you, these counties I now name for the 

 linen manufacture, employ more hands at work by their growth 

 than any eight counties of England do by the growth of theirs, 

 and all employed abroad in other counties, not in their own. 

 And the great cause of strength and riches to England are 

 those great quantities of wool which grow in their great pas- 

 tures, and are sent abroad into the West and other parts and 



