92 THE SILK INDUSTRY IN WESSEX. 



may be for identification purposes. The stamp is not dated. 

 The penny \*as charged for one stage, the length of which 

 was undefined. 



The second prepaid mark is found in 1793 and in 1800. 

 It is a large circular stamp in red ink (about twice the size 

 of the ordinary date stamp) bearing the word " paid," 

 together with the date of posting. There are also two forms 

 of date stamp. Until May, 1787, the day and month only 

 are impressed, but afterwards the last two numerals of the 

 year are added. 



FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 



The method by \vhich the requisite amount o small 

 currency was obtained for the payment of the workpeople, 

 who were numbered by the hundred, deserves a passing 

 notice. In the middle of the eighteenth century the in- 

 habitants of country towns were not able to avail themselves 

 of the services of a local banker, and consequently had to rely 

 on their own resources. At Westbury mill, and probably 

 elsewhere, the procedure was ?s follows. When a consignment 

 of raw silk had been " thrown " and returned to the owner 

 it was always the custom for the throwster to obtain payment 

 by drawing a bill of exchange on his customer, at thirty days 

 sight, in favour of some person who happened to be possessed 

 of a sufficient quantity of current coin. This individual 

 " changed the draft," as the phrase was, at a uniform rate of 

 discount of 5 per cent, per annum, and obtained the proceeds 

 of the draft through an agent in London. Two of the trades- 

 men, Robert Winter, a mercer, and Benjamin Vowell, a wine 

 merchant, were the chief sources of supply, but the clergy, 

 the attorneys and the doctors of Sherborne occasionally 

 helped to provide the gold, silver, and copper for wages at the 

 silk mill. Thus the money so expended continued to circulate 

 in the town, week by week. At a comparatively early date 

 Sherborne was fortunate in having a resident banker in 



