JOURNEYS AND MARKETS. 143 



of Spain, and, still more rarely, the vintages of Greece were 

 also supplied. The Hanse towns sent furs and amber, and 

 probably were the channel by which the precious stones of the 

 East were supplied through the markets of Moscow and Nov- 

 gorod. And perhaps by some of those unknown courses, the 

 history of which is lost, save by the relics which have occasion- 

 ally been discovered, the porcelain of the farthest East might 

 have been seen in some of the booths. Blakeney, and Col- 

 chester, and Lynn, and perhaps Norwich, were rilled with 

 foreign vessels, and busy with the transit of various produce ; 

 and Eastern England grew rich under this confluence of trade. 

 How keen must have been the interest with which the franklin 

 and baiJifF, the one trading on his own account, the other 

 entrusted with his master's produce, witnessed the scene, talked 

 of the wonderful world about them, and discussed the politics 

 of Europe ! 



To this great fair came, on the other hand, the woolpacks, 

 which then formed the riches of England, and were the envy 

 of outer nations. The Cornish tin-mine sent its produce, 

 stamped with the sign of the rich earl who bought the throne 

 of the German empire, or of the warlike prince who had won 

 his spurs at Crecy, and captured the French king at Poitiers. 

 Thither came also salt from the springs of Worcestershire, as 

 well as that which had been gathered under the summer sun 

 from the salterns of the eastern coast. Here, too, might be 

 found lead from the mines of Derbyshire, and iron, either raw 

 or manufactured, from the Sussex forges. And besides these, 

 there were great stores of those kinds of agricultural produce 

 which, even under the imperfect cultivation of the time, were 

 gathered in greater security, and therefore in greater plenty, 

 than in any other part of the world, except Flanders. 



To regulate the currency, to secure the country against 

 the loss of specie, and more harmlessly to prevent the im- 

 portation of spurious or debased coin, the officers of the king's 

 exchange examined into the mercantile transactions of the 

 foreign traders. To form a ready remedy against fraud, the 



