7. Such as shall desire the common intelligence of publick state affairs, or occurrences of matters of more special concernment at home, or abroad, shall find address how to come by it to their content.

8. Such as expect rewards for services done to the King or state, and know not where to pitch and what to desire, answerable to what is due unto them, a discovery of degrees may be found by the office to accommodate their just desires.

9. In case sentences or obligations be to be executed, the office shall be able to shew in all places of the kingdom some body, that may be employed to that effect.

10. Persons expert to attend the sick also the places where sick persons may be accommodated for all manner of diseases better than at their own homes, with baths, and places to sweat in, or for good air and healthful walks, &c.

11. In case any matter is to be notified to a friend, whose abode is uncertain; as the marriage of any to be contracted, or the birth and death of any, or the arrival of any to the city, or the change of his own abode: or, suppose a paper, or writ, or obligation be lost by any which another hath found; which, to him that hath lost it, is of great importance, and is not safe to be published by a cryer for fear of giving notice thereof to an adverse party, in all such cases the office should serve as a common center of advertisement and intelligence.

12. The hours and times of all carriers and messengers departures to all places; and in case strangers should desire to address any thing by them, chiefly letters or small pacquets, a trunk or box should be in the office kept for every one of them, wherein it should be found at their return, to be carried with them.

13. Such as would quit any office or charge of benefit for some present profit, or other consideration, may here find address how to compass their desires, by giving the memorial thereof to the office, that it may be notified to all, that may incline to entertain any such mo

tion.

14. Such as would inform the state of any thing to be taken notice of, whether they will have their names taken notice of or not, they may be sure by the means of this office to have it made known over all the kingdom, by the correspondency of one office to another in every principal city; for the design is to have a commissary of address placed in every great and eminent city, who shall correspond with him of London, and with whom the London officer shall correspond in all cases to receive and give notice of matters, and to address persons and things from one to another, and to commit the procurement of affairs to their trust, and to such as they may employ able to effect the same in their several quarters; so that from any place in all the kingdom a business may be dispatched to any place or person, by the procuration of the correspondent officers of address in several places.

15. Strangers who desire to visit a country, and have no acquaintance in any places, may be addressed from one commissary of address unto another, throughout the whole kingdom, and in every place provided for at the easiest rates, and by the way directed unto the safest abodes and lodgings without hazard of being robbed or killed, when

they shall not need to carry any sums of money about with them, but only certain bills or tickets from the officer of address to his correspondents, where he shall receive his accommodation according to his desire. By which means also they shall come to the acquaintance of all persons of note in all trades and employments, with whom they may have converse instantly without loss of time and needless expences.

16. If any hath a house to build, and would know the best masterbuilders, and where all the materials necessary thereunto are to be had, the office shall be able to give him information and address thereunto with the prices, &c.

IV. The Register of Ingenuities, and Matters commendable for Wit, Worth, and Rarity.

To the chapters of this register are to be referred the memorials of all things, wherein men put some excellency, whether it be settled in the soul, or body, or subordinate to the manifestation or purchase of that, wherein men study to be beneficial unto, or to appear before others, in any thing whatsoever.

1. Here then, if any hath a feat in any science, which is extraor dinary; either a new discovery of a truth, or an experiment in physick, mathematicks, or mechanicks; or a method of delivering sciences or languages, not ordinarily known, and very profitable; or some intricate question and difficulty, which he would have resolved by the most experienced in any, or all arts: in any such case, if the matter be notified to the office, with the tenor of his desire concerning it; by the means of the office, he shall be able to receive satisfaction therein so far as it is attainable.

2. If any is desirous to know the ways by which all degrees of honour are obtained, or conferred in all states and conditions of men, with all the ceremonies and ritualities belonging thereunto, and the privileges, for which in all states they are sought after, the office shall be able to give information thereof.

3. If any would purchase rare books out of print, or manuscripts of any kind, or would impart that, which he hath purchased, unto others, freely, or upon equitable terms, by the means of the office, it may be speedily notified unto all what his desire is, and what the things are, which he either hath to be imparted to others, or would have imparted by others to himself.

4. The rarities of cabinets, as medals, statues, pictures, coins, grains, flowers, shells, roots, plants, and all things that come from far, which nature or art hath fully produced in imitation of nature: if any hath desires to be rid of them, or to gather some of them together that hath none; the office will be either way serviceable to compass men's ends in them.

5. Mathematical and astronomical instruments, and new inventions to discover the secrets and hidden things of nature, if they are to be notified to others, the office will do it.

6. The anatomies of creatures, or the living or dead strange crea.

tures, dogs, cats, apes, fowls of rare qualities, and such like, if they be offered to be seen or sold, by the office this may be notified.

7. Memorials of all things left by any for publick use, and for posterity; with the places where, and the persons to whom they are left, 8. Rare goldsmiths works, with all manner of jewels and precious rare stones, where are to be found, seen, or purchased, at equitable rates, or otherwise to be made use of for the satisfaction of curiosity, and observation of art, by the means of this office it may be known, &c.

Hitherto we have, with as much brevity as could be (for, if we would have been large, a volume might have been filled with them) ranked these heads of matters in some order, to shew, how, by the means of an office, wherein all things may be registered, which by any are either offered or desired for their accommodation, the society of mankind, in a well-ordered commonwealth, may be made flourishing, and as happy in the life of nature, as the satisfaction of their lawful desires can make them. For therein, as in one magazine or marketplace, all things necessary, profitable, rare, and commendable, which are extant in several places, and scattered here and there, are brought together; and exposed to the view of every one that shall be willing to see them, that, according to his reach and capacity, they may be made serviceable unto him, and he thereby, in his degree and station, more useful unto the publick a hundred fold, than otherwise he can be, without the help of such an address. For it is very apparent to any that will take it into consideration, that, besides the private satisfaction of any one in his particular desires, which may be had by this means, se far as it is attainable in an orderly way, the publick aims also of those that are over the affairs of state, to reform and direct them towards the good of all, may be infinitely improved, if they know but how to make use of such an engine. He that can look upon the frame of a whole state, and see the constitution of all the parts thereof, and doth know what strength is in every part, or what the weakness thereof is, and whence it doth proceed, and can, as in a perfect model of a celestial globe, observe all the motions of the spheres thereof; or, as in a watch, see how all the wheels turn and work one upon another for such and such ends; he only can fundamentally know what may and ought to be designed, or can be affected in that state for the increase of the glory, and the settlement of the felicity thereof with power according to righteousness.

And it is very credible, that the statesman of our neighbour nation, who raised himself from the condition of an ordinary gentleman, to become the ruler of princes; and who, by the management of the strength of that state wherein he lived, hath broken the whole design of the House of Austria, in the affectation of the monarchy of Europe, and did make himself, and the kingdom which he did rule, the only considerable power of Christendom, whilst he lived in it: we say, it is very credible, that this man was inabled, from so mean beginnings, to bring so great designs to pass, chiefly by the dexterity of his prudence in making use of this engine, which never before was set a work in

any commonwealth, to reflect upon a whole state, till he did set it afoot to that effect.

He, that is not blind, may easily perceive this, that it was not possible that his intelligence could be so universal in all things, as it was, and his designs so effectually carried on, in all places, as they were, without an exact insight of all circumstances, and a speedy and secret correspondency with all parts; and that, to have such an insight in all things, and maintain such a correspondency with all parts, nothing is so fit as such a way of address, erected in all the chief cities of every province of a kingdom, is altogether undeniable: therefore it may be fawfully concluded, that by this means chiefly he was inabled both to contrive and execute all his undertakings.

Hence also must be observed, that to have such an office, in one place, is not enough; but that there should be one in every principal place of resort, where there is the greatest concurrence of men for mutual society and negotiation in every province, that all the commodities or conveniencies, which are offered or desired in any place, may be conveyed or made known unto all places unto which they are by any

means communicable.

Now that such registers in those places, and chiefly in London, may be kept for all these, both private and publick advantages, nothing is wanting, but the countenance of authority, that the matter may be regularly and orderly carried on, because it is not enough to intend a good work, but the way of carrying it on must be good also; therefore the business is to be ordered by those that are in place of supreme command; that as the motion doth aim at the publick good of all, by the benefit and profit of every one in particular; so all respect may be shewed towards those that are over the whole body, that nothing may seem to be attempted to their prejudice. As for that which remaineth to be certified further in this business, it is not much; only this may be added, that these registers must be again and again subdivided, and especially that some must be kept secret, and some exposed to the common view of all. In the secret registers, the particularities of the memorials are to be kept; specifying things circumstantially, by the names and places of abode of them, that do offer or desire the same, with all the conditions, upon which they are offered and desired. And, in the open or common register, the same memorial is to be kept under a general intimation of the matter only; with a reference unto the particular and secret register, that such as shall see the general intimation, and shall desire the particular information thereof, may be accommodated therein by an extract thereof for their address, where to find their conveniency; and for this extract some small and very inconsiderable duty, as a penny, or, at the most, two-pence, may be paid.

As for those that are to bring memorials unto the office, some patterns or forms are to be made, and shewed unto them hung up in the office, to teach such as are not acquainted with the way, how to draw up their memorandums, which they would bring in. Those then, that will make use of the office, shall be directed to come, with an exact memorial, of that whereof they desire either to give or receive advice, and upon what conditions. When therefore they shall come with their me

morial, if they be poor, it shall be registered, or an extract shall be given them out of the register-book for nothing; but, if they are not poor, the duty is to be paid for the registering, or for the extract, which may be taken out of a memorial; and, when they have found the persons to whom the extract shall give them address, if the bargain, whereof the memorial doth give information, be concluded, or the effect of the memorial be otherwise made void; the register is to be discharged of it within twenty-four hours, and, for this discharge of the register, nothing shall be paid. Now the register should be discharged of the memorials which are made void, lest fruitless addresses be made to any concerning a matter already dispatched; and, lest those, that have received satisfaction which they desired by their memorials, be troubled with new visitors which the office may send unto them, if this be not done.

Lastly, By all that hath been said this is very evident, that this way of address will be the most useful and advantageous constitution for the supply of all men's wants, and the dispatch of all businesses, that can be thought upon, in this or any other commonwealth; and that this way may easily be set on foot is apparent from this, that to settle it nothing is wanting, but the designment of a place, in which the office should be kept, and an act of authority to be given to the sollicitor of publick designs, whereby he should be ordered to prosecute this matter. This act, then, might run in such terms as these, or the like:

"Seeing the provision for the poor, to supply their necessities, and give them and others address unto some employments, is not only a work of Christian charity, but of great usefulness to a well-ordered commonwealth: It is therefore ordered and ordained, by both Houses of parliament, that N. N. shall be a superintendent-general for the good of the poor of this kingdom, to find out and propose the ways of their relief, and give to them, and all others, such addresses as shall be most expedient to supply their wants, and to procure to every one their satisfaction, in the accommodation of all their commendable or lawful desires. To which effect, the said N. N. is authorised hereby to appoint, first in London, and then in all other places of this kingdom, wheresoever he shall think it expedient, an office of encounter or address in such place or places, as by authority shall be designed to that use. In which places he shall have power to put under-officers, &c. who shall, according to his direction, be bound to keep books and registers, wherein it shall be free for every one to cause to be written and registered, by several and distinct chapters, every thing whereof address may be given concerning the said necessities and accommodations; and likewise it shall be free for every one to come to the said offices, to receive addresses by extracts out of the registers, upon condition that the rich shall pay for such an extract, or the registering of a memorial, but two-pence, or three-pence at the most; and that the poor shall have this done on their behalf for nothing; nor shall any be bound, or obliged to make use of this office, by giving, or taking out memorials, further than of their own accord they shall be willing."