"That our realm naturally yields sufficient mines of saltpetre without depending on foreign parts; wherefore, for the future, no dovehouse shall be paved with stones, bricks, nor boards, lime, sand, nor gravel, nor any other thing whereby the growth and increase of the mine and saltpetre may be hindered or impaired; but the proprietors shall suffer the ground or floors thereof, as also all stables where horses stand, to lie open with good and mellow earth, apt to breed increase of the said mine. And that none deny or hinder any _saltpetre-man_, lawfully deputed thereto, from digging, taking, or working any ground which by commission may be taken and wrought for saltpetre. Neither shall any constable, or other officer, neglect to furnish any such _saltpetre-man_ with convenient carriages, that the King's service suffer not. _None shall bribe any saltpetre-man_ for the sparing or forbearing of any ground fit to be wrought for saltpetre," &c. It would appear that the _saltpetre-man_ abused his authority, and that the people suffered a good deal of annoyance from the manner in which this {434} absurd system was carried out; for two years afterwards we find that another proclamation was published by the King, notifying, "that the practice of making saltpetre in England by digging up the floors of dwelling-houses, &c. &c., tended too much to the grievance of his loving subjects ... that notwithstanding all the trouble, not one third part of the saltpetre required could be furnished." It proceeds to state that Sir John Brooke and Thomas Russell, Esq., had proposed a new method of manufacturing the article, and that an exclusive patent had been granted to them. The King then _commands_ his subjects in London and Westminster, that after notice given, they "carefully keep in proper vessels all human urine throughout the year, and as much of that of beasts as can be saved." This appeared to fail; for at the end of the same year, the "stable" monarch proclaimed a return to the old method, giving a commission to the Duke of Buckingham, and some others, to "... break open ... and work for saltpetre," as might be found requisite; and in 1634, a further proclamation was issued renewing the old ones, but excepting the houses, stables, &c. of _persons of quality_. During the Commonwealth the nuisance was finally got rid of; for an act was passed in 1656, directing that "none shall dig within the houses, &c. of any person _without their leave first obtained_." BROCTUNA. Bury, Lancashire. J. O. treats _The Lord Coke, his Speech and Charge, with a Discoverie of the Abuses and Corruptions of Officers_, 8vo. London: N. Butter, 1607, as a genuine document; but it is not so; and, lest the error should gain ground, the following account of the book, from the Preface, by Lord Coke, to the seventh part of his _Reports_, is subjoined: