198 TRADE WITH ASIA. 



CHAP. XXIV. 



Europe to Asia, we can scarcely calculate the ab- 

 sorption of the latter division of the globe to have 

 been more than two-fifths of the whole quantity 

 produced by America and Europe together. In 

 the absence of that certainty or accuracy which is 

 desirable but not attainable on this subject, we 

 shall assume that two-fifths of the metallic wealth 

 furnished by the mines of America and of Europe 

 during the period between 1700 and 1810 passed 

 from the latter division of the globe into Asia. 



We come next to that application of gold and 

 silver by which the ornamental articles of dress, 

 the decorations of public and private buildings, 

 and the various domestic luxuries are supplied. 



The use of gold and silver, whether in articles 

 of furniture, dress, or decorations, depends much 

 on the degree of refinement which may exist in 

 any age or country. They are rarely applied, and 

 by a few individuals, in an age of rude hospitality, 

 of boisterous conviviality, and of inebriating gra- 

 tifications ; they are the accompaniments of more 

 elegant enjoyments and more refined manners; 

 and if they appeared as they did in the palaces of 

 a few princes, nobles, and prelates, they were in 

 such union with the other furniture, with the 

 want of neatness, not to say of cleanliness, and 

 with the general arrangement of the whole esta- 

 blishment, as to form a most unappropriate com- 

 bination according to the more refined ideas of the 

 present age. 



