Their Trade, Indeed, Felt A Very Sensible Decay, And
The Cries Of The Poor Began To Be Very Loud, When
The wearing of
painted calicoes was grown to such a height in England, as was seen
about two or three
Years ago; but an Act of Parliament having been
obtained, though not without great struggle, in the years 1720 and
1721, for prohibiting the use and wearing of calicoes, the stuff
trade revived incredibly; and as I passed this part of the country
in the year 1723, the manufacturers assured me that there was not,
in all the eastern and middle part of Norfolk, any hand unemployed,
if they would work; and that the very children, after four or five
years of age, could every one earn their own bread. But I return
to speak of the villages and towns in the rest of the county; I
shall come to the city of Norwich by itself.
This throng of villages continues through all the east part of the
country, which is of the greatest extent, and where the manufacture
is chiefly carried on. If any part of it be waste and thin of
inhabitants, it is the west part, drawing a line from about Brand,
or Brandon, south, to Walsinghan, north. This part of the country
indeed is full of open plains, and somewhat sandy and barren, and
feeds great flocks of good sheep; but put it all together, the
county of Norfolk has the most people in the least tract of land of
any county in England, except about London, and Exon, and the West
Riding of Yorkshire, as above.
Add to this, that there is no single county in England, except as
above, that can boast of three towns so populous, so rich, and so
famous for trade and navigation, as in this county. By these three
towns, I mean the city of Norwich, the towns of Yarmouth and Lynn.
Besides that, it has several other seaports of very good trade, as
Wisbech, Wells, Burnham, Clye, etc.
Norwich is the capital of all the county, and the centre of all the
trade and manufactures which I have just mentioned; an ancient,
large, rich, and populous city. If a stranger was only to ride
through or view the city of Norwich for a day, he would have much
more reason to think there was a town without inhabitants, than
there is really to say so of Ipswich; but on the contrary if he was
to view the city, either on a Sabbath-day, or on any public
occasion, he would wonder where all the people could dwell, the
multitude is so great. But the case is this: the inhabitants
being all busy at their manufactures, dwell in their garrets at
their looms, and in their combing shops (so they call them),
twisting-mills, and other work-houses, almost all the works they
are employed in being done within doors. There are in this city
thirty-two parishes besides the cathedral, and a great many
meeting-houses of Dissenters of all denominations.
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