Holland; and a dearth of only one year in any other part of Europe enriches Holland for seven years.  In the course of a year and a half, during a scarcity in England, there was carried away from the ports of Southampton, Bristol, and Exeter alone, nearly 200,000_l_.:  and if London and the rest of England were included, there must have been 2,000,000 more.  The Dutch, he adds, have a regular trade to England with 500 or 600 vessels annually, whereas we trade, not with fifty to their country.  After entering into details respecting the Dutch fishery, by means of which, he says, they sell herrings annually to the value of upwards of one million and a half sterling, whereas England scarcely any, he reverts to the other branches of Dutch commerce, as compared with ours.  The great stores of wines and salt, brought from France and Spain, are in the Low Countries:  they send nearly 1,000 ships yearly with these commodities into the east countries alone; whereas we send not one ship.  The native country of timber for ships, &c. is within the Baltic; but the storehouse for it is in Holland; they have 500 or 600 large ships employed in exporting it to England and other parts:  we not one.  The Dutch even interfere with our own commodities; for our wool and woollen cloth, which goes out rough, undressed, and undyed, they manufacture and serve themselves and other nations with it.  We send into the east countries yearly but 100 ships, and our trade chiefly depends upon three towns, Elbing, Koningsberg, and Dantzic; but the Low Countries send thither about 3,000 ships:  they send into France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, about 2,000 ships yearly with those east country commodities, and we, none in that course.  They trade into all cities and port towns of France, and we chiefly to five or six.

The Low Countries have as many ships and vessels as eleven kingdoms of Christendom have; let England be one.  For seventy years together, we had a great trade to Russia (Narva), and even about fourteen years ago, we sent stores of goodly ships thither; but three years past we sent out four thither, and last year but two or three ships; whereas the Hollanders are now increased to about thirty or forty ships, each as large as two of ours, chiefly laden with English cloth, herrings, taken in our seas, English lead, and pewter made of our tin.  He adds, that a great loss is suffered by the kingdom from the undressed and undyed cloths being sent out of the kingdom, to the amount of 80,000 pieces annually; and that there had been annually exported, during the last fifty-three years, in baizes, northern and Devonshire kersies, all white, about 50,000 cloths, counting three kersies to one cloth.