"In the year 1652", says he, "I entered upon iron-works, and plied them for several years." [4] He made it a subject of his diligent study how to provide employment for the poor, then much distressed by the late wars.

With the help of his wife, he established a manufacture of linen, which was attended with good results.

Observing how the difficulties of communication, by reason of the badness of the roads, hindered the development of the rich natural resources of the western counties,[5] he applied himself to the improvement of the navigation of the larger rivers, making surveys of them at his own cost, and endeavouring to stimulate local enterprise so as to enable him to carry his plans into effect.
While thus occupied, the restoration of Charles II.

took place, and whether through envy or enmity Yarranton's activity excited the suspicion of the authorities.

His journeys from place to place seemed to them to point to some Presbyterian plot on foot.