1. BECAUSE the Publick Use of Silver-Plate is so much abated in the Nation.

2. BECAUSE Tin, improv'd by Art, is next, in Na­ture, to pure Gold, and Silver. And it is the Interest, and Honour of the Nation to Refine Tin, it being our own [Page 2]Commodity, rather than to use Allay'd and Course Silver, for Common Plate.

3. THE higher the Price and Quality of Tin shall be, the more it will be in Fashion: The more it is in Fashion; the more it will be Refin'd: The more it is Refin'd, the more fitter it will be for Plate: The more Tin there is in Plate, the more Silver we sall have in Mony: The more Silver there is in Mony, the more Mony we shall have to lay out on the most Refin'd and Fashionable Pewter: The finer the Pewter is in Quality and Fashion, the higher will be the Price of Tin: The higher the Price and Quality of Tin shall be, the greater quantity will be Consum'd: The greater the Consumption is, the better it will be, both for the Rich and Poor: The Poor will get more Wages, and the Rich more Wealth; For All Markets are govern'd by the first Market-Price. And as the Quantity, Quality and Price of Tin shall rise, the more it will be for the Honour and Interest of the Na­tion in general; And the Counties of Cornwall and Devon in particular, will be the better enabled thereby to serve their King and Country, in Mind, Body and Estate.

NOW, The better to prevent the Cornish Factors under­buying one another, and bringing down the Price of Tin, to the Prejudice of the Publick; as our Merchants do often Limit their Factors, to prevent the rising Prizes of Foreign Commodities; so a Law may be made here, That no one shall buy, or sell Tin, under 3 l. 3 l. 10 s. or 4 l. per Hun­dred. I have already shewn, in the first Proposal, that the Price of Tin abroad, will bear that Price at home. And it is as much Policy to keep the Price of Tin from falling, as it would have been to have kept the Price of Silver from rising, and its Quality from being debas'd.

There was more Work done for the Roman Penny, (which was pure Silver) than can be done now for an [Page 3] English Pound; For, as we have Allay'd and Corrupted our Coin, we have lost much of our Constitution with the ancient Standard; And as our English Constitution hath been corrupted with our Coin, so the Strength and Courage of the Cornish Men, hath much declin'd with the Prince of their Tin.

I will take away all their Tin, Isa. 1.25. was once said to a degene­rating and, then, unthinking People, because they did not Improve the Talent: But it is better that God should take the Tin from us, than that we should be ruin'd by so Rich a Commodity as Tin may be made.

I have see at Venice and elsewhere, Plate made of Re­fin'd Tin, which have exceeded some made of Allay'd Silver.

And Mr. Joseph Benmer of Panzance in Cornwall, having been a Scholar and a great Traveller, and an honest and ingenious Pewterer, and having ou done all others of his Profession here, in making Tin-Plate for such as esteem'd it, and paid him a Price according to the Excellency of the refined Metal, and Curiosity of the Workmanship; There was a great Wager laid, That one of the Pewterers of London should exceed him in the Art of Refineing Tin, and making a Plate thereof: But Mr. Benmar's Plate ex­ceeded the others, both in Lightness and Fineness; and the Wager being won, Mr. Benmer (to shew a farther ex­cellency in the Improvement of Nature by his Art) made a fierce Fire; And putting his Plate thereon, and the other Pewterers Plate into his, his melted down the other Plate, and remain'd in its former Excellency and Perfection.

And certainly, if our Tin had not an exceeding Quality in Nature, to imploy the Arts of ingenious and industrious Men, so many Nations of the World (and even those that have Tin in it) would not have taken so much from our Merchants Agents abroad, at 10 l. 20 l. and 30 l. Sterling a Hundred; nor could our Merchants at home (as hereto­fore they did) give the Tinners above 6 l. a Hundred [Page 4]first Price for it. And the higher the Price hath been, the better the Commodity hath gone off.

AND farther, to shew the Nature of our Tin, I shall inform my Reader, (and I could give many such In­stances) That about 20 Years ago, some engineers, or ra­ther Men of Cunning Art, came down into Cornwall: And often Visiting the blowing, or melting Houses, of the Tin, and as often making the Blowers Drink; Whilst the Blow­ers were busy Drinking, those cunning Men were as busy dipping their Rods in the Flote, or Mould, where the Tin was melting hot; And by that means, using both ends of their Rods,Con­sidering our Proportion, of Gold and Silver, from the Indies; If no small quan­tity of both had not been Extracted from the Me­tals of Eng­land, we could never have endured the late over­ballance of Trade, nor have so long carried on such a War. they extracted a great deal of Gold and Silver. And, if they had not been mistrusted, and forced to fly the Country, uon the discover'd want of that Vertue, which, by that means, was gone out of the Tin, they would have gotten many Thousand Pounds, in a little time, and spoil'd all the Tin which they should so touch.

The Pewterers, and Merchants, upon the Discovery, com­plaining to the Tinners; the Tinners brought their Action against the Blowers: And (after a Stannery Law-suit as long as from hence to the Lands-End) they had more Satisfaction, then (I think) should have been given them.

And, some time since, one of those cunning Men confessed the Matter of Fact to me, and some others, and how they were forced to fly the Country for Committing it.

NOW the Nature of Tin, in its refined Purity, being so nearly related to Gold and Silver, We should use all possible Art and Policy, to refine and esteem its Quality, and thereby also to raise the Price thereof.

AND, if We do so, now in the time of the Tinners ne­cessity, it cannot but increase the Tin-Trade; and be an Act of Charity and Justice, very acceptable and well-plea­sing, both to God and the Nation.

Because the Improvement of this Rich Talent will much Increase our Coin, which is so much wanting to carry on a Vigorous War against our greatest Adversary.

AND as all Kingdoms and Common-wealths, have Risen by Trade and Justice, so we may now begin to Aggrandize this Great Land and Nation, by one of the Ca­pital Commodities thereof.

Vast Quantities whereof may be risen and consumed, by Refining and Esteeming the Quality, and by Raising and Advancing the Price, to the greater Interest and Ho­nour both of the King and Country.

And when the Great Wisdom and Policy of the King and Parliament, shall think fit to Sit upon so Great and Ad­vantagious a Work, even an English Kitching hung (as it were) with Refined Pewter-Plate, will be one of the Finest and Noblest Sights in the World.

AND, as we Understand the good Nature of this No­ble and Generous Nation, and have regard to the Inte­rest of the Poor, and the Publick, We may find out Means enough to overcome our greatest Adversaries withal; And to make KING WILLIAM a Greater Friend than Queen Elizabeth was to the World, when She was so near (in Strength, but not in Time) to that Universal Empire, which the King of Spain then aimed at, and the French King hath since set up for.

AND Whereas Britain had its Name from the Tin, which was first found in the County of Cornwall, We can­not begin to regulate Trade, and to raise the Nation bet­ter, than by trying all Experiments upon that useful Com­modity.

And therefore, I should here shew some other Means to redress the Tinners Greviances: But this being not the [Page 6]proper Time for that purpose, (but the most proper Time to keep the Price of Tin from falling, at least under 3 l. per Hundred;) I shall draw these Reasons to a Conclusion, with the two following Letters, the one from a Cornish Gentle­man, and the other from a Gentleman of Devon.

BY which it doth appear, That the Tinners (who know what they have had, and believe what the may have again for their Tin) are very desirous to have a Law, this Session of Parliament, according to the Proposal, and the Prayer of [Page 7]their Petition, That no one shall buy or sell Tin under 3 or 3 l. per Hundred. As to the great Wisdom of the King and Parliament shall seem most meet.

AND as the Price of Tin riseth by degrees, the Tin­ners will rise in Reputation and Estate; And what shall be done for them by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty, and the High Court of Parliament, will put may others upon promoting those Trades, which England, now, above all other Nations, is capable of Improving.

AND as we weather this Point of War, and come to wage Trade with the World (as in point of Wisdom and true Policy we should do) we may turn the Wheel of our Fortune.

AND, as God and Nature hath done more for this Nation, than for any other; so, by Trade and Justice, and a necessity of some Regulations, we may raise Great Britain to that degree of Riches, Honour and Excellency, for which God, Nature, and the Present Necessity, seem to have designed it.