Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 2.djvu/81

Rh from England, in his work entitled "The Interest of Holland," published in 1669, show the estimation of the commercial greatness of this country which was now prevalent on the continent; and the passage is also worth quoting from the sketch it gives of the rise and progress of our manufactures and trade. "When the compulsive laws of the Netherland Halls," he observes, "had first driven the cloth-weaving from the cities into our villages, and thence into England, and that, by the cruelty of the Duke d'Alva, the say-weaving went also after it, the English by degrees began to vend their manufactures throughout Europe: they became potent at sea, and no longer to depend on the Netherlands. Also, by that discovery of the inexpressibly rich cod-bank of Newfoundland, those of Bristol in particular made use of that advantage. Moreover, the long persecution of Puritans in England has occasioned the planting of many English colonies in America, by which they drive a very considerable foreign trade thither. So that this mighty island, united with Ireland under one king, seated in the midst of Europe, having a clear deep coast, with good