What you shall doe in Turkie, besides the businesse of your Factorship.
1 Forasmuch as it is reported that the Woollen clothes died in Turkie bee most excellently died, you shall send home into this realme certaine Mowsters or pieces of Shew to be brought to the diers hall, there to be shewed, partly to remooue out of their heads, the tootoo great opinion they haue concerned of their owne cunning, and partly to mooue them for shame to endeuour to learne more knowledge to the honour of their countrey of England, and to the vniuersall benefit of the realme.
2 You shall deuise to amend the Dying of England, by carying hence an apte yoong man brought vp in the Arte, or by bringing one or other from thence of skill, or rather to deuise to bring one for Silkes, and another for Wooll and for Woollen cloth, and if you cannot worke this by ordinarie meanes, then to worke it by some great Bassas meane, or if your owne credite there be not sufficient by meane of your small abode in those parties, to worke it by the helpe of the French ambassador there resident, for which purpose you may insinuate your selfe into his acquaintance, and otherwise to leaue no meane vnsought that tendeth to this end, wherein you are to doe as circumstances may permit.
3 Then to learne to know all the materials and substances that the Turkes vse in dying, be they of Herbes, simple or compound, be they plants, Barkes, Wood, Berries, Seedes, Graines, or Minerall matter, or what els soeuer. But before all other, such things as yeeld those famous colours that carrie such speciall report of excellencie, that our Merchaunts may bring them to this realme by ordinarie trade, as a light meane for the better vent of our clothes.
4 To know the vse of those, and where the naturall place of them and of ech of them is, I meane the place where ech of them groweth or is bred.
5 And in any wise, if Anile that coloureth blew be a naturall commodity of those parts, and if it be compounded of an herbe, to send the same into this realme by seed or by root in barrell of earth, with all the whole order of sowing, setting, planting, replanting, and with the compounding of the same, that it may become a naturall commodity in this realme as Woad is, to this end that the high price of forreine Woad (which deuoureth yeerely great treasure) may be brought downe. So shall the marchant buy his cloth lesse deare, and so he shalbe able to occupy with lesse stocke, be able to afoord cloth cheaper, make more ample vent, and also become a greater gainer himselfe, and all this to the benefit of this realme.
6 To do the like with herbe and plant, or tree that in dying is of any excellent vse, as to send the same by seed, berry, root, &c: for by such meanes Saffron was brought first into this realme, which hath sent many poore on worke, and brought great wealth into this realme. Thus may Sumack, the plant wherewith the most excellent blacks be died in Spaine, be brought out of Spaine, and out of the Ilands of the same, if it will grow in this more colde climat. For thus was Woad brought into this realme, and came to good perfection, to the great losse of the French our olde enemies. And it doth maruellously import this realme to make naturall in this realme such things as be special in the dying of our clothes. And to speake of such things as colour blew, they are of greatest vse, and are grounds of the most excellent colours, and therefore of all other to be brought into this realme, be it Anile or any other materiall of that quality.
7 And because yellowes and greenes are colours of small prices in this realme, by reason that Olde and Greenweed wherewith they be died be naturall here, and in great plenty, therefore to bring our clothes so died to common sale in Turkie were to the great benefit of the merchant, and other poore subiects of this realme, for in sale of such our owne naturall colours we consume not our treasure in forren colours, and yet we sell our owne trifles dearely perhaps.
8 The woolles being naturall, and excellent colours for dying becomming by this meanes here also naturall, in all the arte of Clothing then we want but one onely speciall thing. For in this so temperate a climat our people may labor the yere thorowout, whereas in some regions of the world they cannot worke for extreme heat, as in some other regions they cannot worke for extreme colde a good part of the yere. And the people of this realme by the great and blessed abundance of victuall are cheaply fed, and therefore may afoord their labour cheape. And where the Clothiers in Flanders by the Flatnesse of their riuers cannot make Walkmilles [Footnote: Fulling, or the art of scouring, cleansing, and thickening cloth, &c., in a mill, makes the material more compact and durable. Walkmill is the old name for a fullingmill.] for their clothes, but are forced to thicken and dresse all their clothes by the foot and by the labour of men, whereby their clothes are raised to an higher price, we of England haue in all Shires store of milles vpon falling riuers. And these riuers being in temperate zones are not dried vp in Summer with drought and heat as the riuers be in Spaine and in hotter regions, nor frozen vp in Winter as all the riuers be in all the North regions of the world: so as our milles may go and worke at all times, and dresse clothes cheaply. Then we haue also for scowring our clothes earths and claies, as Walkers clay, [Footnote: Fuller's earth, which attains a thickness of 150 feet near Bath.] and the clay of Oborne little inferior to Sope in scowring and in thicking. Then also haue we some reasonable store of Alum and Copporas here made for dying, and are like to haue increase of the same. Then we haue many good waters apt for dying, and people to spin and to doe the rest of all the labours we want not. [Sidenote: Supply of the want of oile.] So as there wanteth, if colours might be brought in and made naturall, but onely Oile: the want whereof if any man could deuise to supply at the full with any thing that might become naturall in this realme, he whatsoeuer he were that could bring it about, might deserue immortall fame in this our Common wealth, and such a deuise was offered to the Parliament and refused, because they denied to endow him with a certaine liberty, some others hauing obtained the same before, that practised to worke that effect by Radish seed, which onely made a triall of small quantity, and that went no further, to make that Oile in plenty: and now he that offered this deuise was a marchant, and is dead, and withall the deuise is dead with him.
It is written by one that wrote of Afrike, [Sidenote: Leo Africanus lib. 8.] that in Egypt in a city called Muhaisira there be many milles imployed in making of Oile of the seed of an herbe called Sesamum. Pena and Lobell, Physicians, write in our time, that this herbe is a codded herbe full of oily seed, and that there is plenty of this seede brought out of Egypt to diuers Cities in Italy. If this herbe will prosper in this realme, our marchants may easily bring of it, &c.