CHAP. XX. 



INCREASED PRICES. 87 



CHAPTER XX. 



Of the effect of the increase of metallic wealth on the various 

 classes of society between 1 483 and 1583. 



IN the preceding chapter we have attempted to 

 show the influence exercised on the mass of com- 

 modities by the increased supply of the precious 

 metals which the discovery of America had yielded ; 

 and that within the first century after that event 

 the quantity of those metals had increased nearly 

 fivefold, and the prices of commodities in the 

 same period been enhanced in nearly the same 

 proportion. 



It is now desirable to examine into the effect 

 produced on the several classes of society by a 

 course of events which were so new to the genera- 

 tions who lived during the century in which this 

 cause first exhibited its operations. 



The silence of most contemporary writers on 

 the subject, or the allusions casually made by a 

 few of them, show that the advance of prices made 

 but a slight impression during its progress. It 

 was not till the end of twenty or thirty years that 

 those who looked backwards with attention be- 

 came sensible of the great addition that had been 

 made to them. It is to be remembered that to 

 increase fivefold in one hundred years, it is not 



