CHAP. XXI. INCREASE OF WEALTH. 141 



towns were chiefly constructed of stone or bricks, 

 were covered with slate or tiles, and floored with 

 timber. 



The fine arts had made considerable progress in 

 the preceding century, as well as in that under 

 review, and the statues, but especially the paintings, 

 had acquired a great value. The great masters of 

 Italy, of Flanders, of Spain, of Holland, and even 

 of England and France, had produced works which 

 were high in price, and which may be added to 

 the list of general commodities, and like the others 

 would require the use of money to exchange and 

 distribute them. 



The trade which had been created in the pre- 

 ceding century by opening an intercourse with 

 India by sea, and by the discovery of America, had 

 changed the small and ill-equipped vessels fitted 

 only to perform coasting-voyages for large, well- 

 built, and costly ships, appropriately constructed for 

 the long and perilous passage beyond the Cape of 

 Good Hope, to the eastern shores of America, and 

 in some cases to the more remote parts of that 

 continent beyond Cape Horn. 



It would perhaps be presumption to attempt 

 to estimate the amount of increase in the mass of 

 commodities during this hundred years ; but if 

 the number of inhabitants in England had been 

 increased from three million eight hundred thou- 

 sand to five million five hundred thousand, and 

 if in this latter number each class had increased 



