1 of this number, fays Mr. Hume, the fame author complains much of the decay of populousness; a vulgar complaint, in all ages, and places *. Sir Walter Raleigh however afferts, that there was a general review, in 1583, of all the men in England, capable of bearing arms, who were found to amount to 1,172,000 Here then are two credible evidences to an important fact: That, in 1575, or 1583, the fighting men of England, according to enumerations, amounted to Which, if multiplied by 4, would prove If by 5, would prove them to have been 1,172,000 4,688,000 5,860,000 Hift. vol. v. p. 481.-vi. p. 179. By endeavouring to collect every thing that could throw light on the population of Elizabeth's reign, Mr. Hume has bewildered himfelf and his reader. Peck has preferved a paper, which, by proving that there were mufters in 1575, confirms Harrifon's account. [Defid. Curiofa, v. i. p. 74.] It is a known fact, that there was an enumeration of the mariners, in 1582, which correfponds with Raleigh's account. [Campbel's Pol. Survey, v. 1. p. 161.] That there were feveral furveys, then, is a fact incontrovertible; as appears indeed from the Harl. MSS. in Brit. Muf. Nos. 412 and 6,839. The Privy Council having required the Bishops, in July 1563, to certify the number of families in their feveral diocefes, were informed minutely of the particulars of each. Some of the Bishops returns may be feen in MSS. Harl. No. 595. Brit. Muf. From the Bishops certificates, as well as from the 31 Eliz. ch. 7. it appears, that the words families and households were then used synonimously. Without Without comparing minutely the numbers, which we have already found, in 1377, with the people, who thus plainly existed in 1577, it is apparent, that there had been a vaft increase in the intermediate two hundred years. Such then were the numbers of the fighting men, and of the inhabitants of England, during the reign of Elizabeth: and fuch was the power, while her revenue 'was inconfiderable, wherewith that illuftrious Queen defended the independence of the nation, and spread wide its renown*. But, it is the ardour, with which a people are infpired, more than their numbers, that conftitutes their real force. It was the enmity wherewith the armada had infpired England against Spain, which prompted the English people, rather than the *The particular number of the communicants and recufants, in each diocefe and parish of England, was certified to the Privy Council, by the Bishops, in 1603.-MSS. Harl. Brit. Muf. No. 280. And the number of communicants was In all 2,057,033 8,465 2,065,498 By the 334 Eliz. chap. 1, all perfons upwards of fixteen years of age were required to go to church, under the penalty of twenty pounds. If the 2,065,498 contained all the perfons, both male and female, who were thus required to frequent the church, this number would correspond very well with the fighting men lately flated; and fhew the people of England and Wales to have been between four and five millions, during Elizabeth's reign, though approaching nearer to the last number than the first. English court, to aid the bastard Don Antonio to conquer Portugal: and twenty thousand volunteers engaged in this romantic enterprize, under those famous leaders, Norris, and Drake.-An effort, which fhewed the manners of the age more than its populoufnefs, ended in difappointment, as might have been foreseen, if enthusiasm and reafon were not always at variance. An alarm being given of an invafion by the Spaniards, in 1599, the Queen equipped a fleet, and levied an army, in a fortnight, to oppofe them. Nothing, we are told, gave foreigners a higher idea of the power of England than this fudden armament. Yet, it is not too much to affert, that Lancashire alone, confidering its numerous manufactories, and extenfive commerce, is now able to make a more steady exertion, amidst modern warfare, than the whole kingdom in the time of Elizabeth. The The traders of Liverpool alone fitted out, at the commencement of the late war with France, between the 26th of Auguft 1778 and the 17th of April 1779, a hundred and twenty privateers, armed each with ten to thirty guns, but moftly with fourteen to twenty. From an accurate lift, containing the name and appointment of each, it appears, that thefe privateers measured 30,787 tons, carrying 1,986 guns, and 8,754 men. The fleet fent against the armada, in 1588, meafured 31,985 tons, and was navigated by 15,272 feamen. And, from the efforts of a fingle town we may infer, that the private ships of war formed a greater force, during the war of the Colonies, than the nation, with all its unanimity and zeal, was able to equip under the potent government of Elizabeth, There was an enumeration, in 1581, of the shipping and failors The acceffion of James I. was an event aufpicious to the profperity and the populoufnefs of Great Britain. The tranquillity of the Northern counties of England, which it had been the objec of fo many of Elizabeth's laws to fettle, was at once restored and the two-and-twenty years of uninterrupted peace, during his reign, must have produced the most falutary effect on the induftry of the people, while the neighbouring nations were engaged in warfare, though his peaceableness has cast an unmerited ridicule on the King. The various laws, which were paffed by this monarch, for fuppreffing the frauds of manufacturers, evince at once, that they had increased in confiderable numbers, and muft have continued to increase. The acts for reformation of alehouses, and repreffing of drunkenness, as they plainly proceeded from the puritanism of the times, must have promoted fobriety of manners, and attention to business. The act for the relief and regulation of perfons, who were infected with the plague, must have had its effect, in preventing the frequent return of this deftructive evil. Domestic industry was doubtless promoted by the act against monopolies and foreign commerce was affuredly extended by the law, enabling all perfons to trade with Spain, Portugal, and France. But, above failors of England, which amounted to 72,450 tons, and 14,295 mariners. To this ftatement, Doctor Campbel adds, That the feamen of the fhips registered in the port of London, in 1732, weie 21,797. [Pol. Survey, vol. i. p. 161.] all, all, the agricultural interefts of the nation were enfured by the act for confirming the poffeffion of copyholders; and ftill more, by the law for the general quiet of the fubject, against all pretences of dormant claims on the lands, which had defcended from remote ancestors to the then poffeffors. Of this falutary law the principle was adopted, and its efficacy enforced, by a legislative act of the prefent reign. A comparison of the laws, which were enacted by the parliaments of Elizabeth, and of James, would leave a decided preference to the parliamentary leaders of the laft period, both in wif dom, and in patriotiin. The private acts of parliament, in Elizabeth's time, were made chiefly to reftore the blood of thofe, who had been attainted by her predeceffors; the private acts of James were almost all made for naturalizing foreigners, One of the laft parliamentary grants of this reign was £. 18,000 for the reparation of decaying cities and towns, though it is not now eafy to tell how the money was actually applied. Elizabeth had begun the practice of giving bounties to the builders of fuch fhips as carried one hundred tons. James I. merits the praife of giving large fums for the encouragement of this most important manufacture. And while Charles I. patronized every ornamental art, he gave from a very fcanty revenue a bounty of five fhillings the ton for every veffel of the burthen of two hundred tons, Thefe notices enable us to trace the |