"(Then) he that made for us a paper-mill,
Is worthy well of love and worldes good will,
And though his name be _Spill-man_, by degree,
Yet _Help_-man now, he shall be called by mee.
Six hundred men are set at work by him,
That else might starve, or seeke abroade their bread;
Who now live well, and go full brave and trim,
And who may boast _they_ are with paper fed."

In another part of the poem Churchyard adds:

"An high Germaine he is, as may be proovde,
In Lyndoam Bodenze, borne and bred,
And for this mille, may heere be truly lovde,
And praysed, too, for deep device of head."

It is a common idea that this was the first paper-mill erected in England;
and we find an intelligent modern writer, Mr. J.S. Burn, in his _History of
the Foreign Refugees_, repeating the same erroneous statement. At page 262,
of his curious and interesting work be says:

"The county of Kent has been long famed for its manufacture of paper.
It was at Dartford, in this county, that paper was _first made_ in
England."

But it is proved beyond all possibility of doubt that a paper-mill existed
in England almost a century before the date of the establishment at
Dartford. In Henry VII.'s _Household Book_, we have the following:--

"1498. For a rewarde geven at the pulper-mylne, 16s. 8d."