16 COMMERCE OF ENGLAND CHAP. XVI. 



silver are merely commodities, it may be assumed 

 that the greatest portion of them will be found in 

 some form or other, and chiefly in that of utensils 

 and ornaments, in those countries which have the 

 most intercourse by trade with foreign countries. 

 In this view it may serve a useful purpose to take a 

 slight survey of the commerce of the several king- 

 doms of Europe at the close of the fifteenth century, 

 as a guide to the estimation of the portions of the 

 precious metals which they severally possessed. 



Attention is first naturally invited to the state 

 of commerce in our own country. Amidst the 

 intestine wars between the houses of York and 

 Lancaster, though tillage had been lessened and 

 cultivation neglected, there had been a constant 

 intercourse kept up with the other countries of 

 Europe, but it had been chiefly conducted by 

 means of foreign shipping. When Henry VII. 

 succeeded to the throne, after conciliating the 

 domestic factions, his attention was directed to 

 the commerce of his dominions. One of his first 

 steps was to secure free access to his ports for 

 foreign merchants, especially the Italians, and to 

 protect their persons and property in his domi- 

 nions. This soon produced imports of various 

 manufactured goods from that country, as well as 

 the richer commodities of the East, which were 

 paid for with the wool, cloths, lead, tin, and other 

 productions of England. He entered into com- 

 mercial treaties with other powers, and lessened 



