--W.
Oh, how many trades and handicrafts are now in England whereof the
commonwealth hath no need! How many needful commodities have we which
are perfected with great cost, etc., and yet may with far more ease
and less cost be provided from other countries if we could use the
means! I will not speak of iron, glass, and such like, which spoil
much wood, and yet are brought from other countries better cheap than
we can make them here at home; I could exemplify also in many other.
But to leave these things and proceed with our purpose, and herein (as
occasion serveth) generally, by way of conclusion, to speak of the
commonwealth of England, I find that it is governed and maintained by
three sorts of persons--
1. The prince, monarch, and head governor, which is called the king,
or (if the crown fall to a woman) the queen: in whose name and by
whose authority all things are administered.
2. The gentlemen which be divided into two sorts, as the barony or
estate of lords (which containeth barons and all above that degree),
and also those that be no lords, as knights, esquires, and simple
gentlemen, as I have noted already.
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