ved the
source of great prosperity and wealth, "several fine cities," says
Yarranton, "having been raised by the riches proceeding from the
tin-works"--not less than 80,000 men depending upon the trade for their
subsistence; and when Yarranton visited Awe, he found that a statue had
been erected to the memory of the Cornish miner who first discovered
the tin.

Yarranton was very civilly received by the miners, and, contrary to his
expectation, he was allowed freely to inspect the tin-works and examine
the methods by which the iron-plates were rolled out, as well as the
process of tinning them. He was even permitted to engage a number of
skilled workmen, whom he brought over with him to England for the
purpose of starting the manufacture in this country. A beginning was
made, and the tin-plates manufactured by Yarranton's men were
pronounced of better quality even than those made in Saxony. "Many
thousand plates," Yarranton says, "were made from iron raised in the
Forest of Dean, and were tinned over with Cornish tin; and the plates
proved far better than the German ones, by reason of the toughness and
flexibleness of our forest iron. One Mr. Bison, a tinman in Worcester,
Mr. Lydiate near Fleet Bridge, and Mr. Harrison near the King's Bench,
have wrought many, and know their goodness." As Yarranton's account was
written and published during the lifetime of the parties, there is no
reason to doubt the accuracy of his statement.

Arrangements were made to carry on the manufacture upon a large scale;
but the secret having got wind, a patent was taken out, or "trumpt up"
as Yarranton calls it, for the manufacture, "the patentee being
countenanced by some persons of quality," and Yarranton was precluded
from carrying his operations further. It is not improbable that the
patentee in question was William Chamberlaine, Dud Dudley's quondam
partner in the iron manufacture.[15] "What with the patent being in
our way," says Yarranton, "and the richest of our partners being afraid
to offend great men in power, who had their eye upon us, it caused the
thing to cool, and the making of the tin-plates was neither proceeded
in by us, nor possibly could be by him that had the patent; because
neither he that hath the patent, nor those that have countenanced him,
can make one plate fit for use." Yarranton's labours were thus lost to
the English public for a time; and we continued to import all our
tin-plates from Germany until about