326 A. D. 1624. 



his rents, and value of his inhei'itance ; to the merchant, in the quick- 

 nefs of his trade and benefit of his returns ; to the borrower, in the 

 eafe of his condition, &c. Hereupon Sir J-^-fiah Child, in his Difcourfe 

 on trade (publiflied in 1670), remarks, that in the year 1639, which 

 was but ten years after pafTing this law, there were more merchants to 

 be found on the exchange, worth Liooo and upwards, than were be- 

 fore the year 1600 to be found worih Lioo. That before this reduc- 

 tion of interefl:, the current price of lands was 12 years pure hafe, which 

 foon after rofe confiderably higher. That the lowering of interefl en- 

 ables the landlord to improve his eflate, and thereby raife his rents : 

 that it enables merchants to increafe foreign trade, whereby home 

 manufacturers and artificers will be increafed, as alfo our flock of other 

 ufeful people ; and the poor will be employed *. 



In the book, intitled. Cabala, or Myfteries of ilate, we find a letter 

 from Sir Walter Aflon, then the Englifh ambafTador in Spain, to Lord 

 Conway, fecretary of flate, giving advice that three Scottifh fhips with 

 their cargoes, were confifcatedat Malaga, for bringing thither certainDutch 

 commodities. Which we here take notice of, as fuch a precedent may 

 poffibly be of ufe hereafter, in difputes concerning contraband mer- 

 chandize ; and to fhow that the Scots had fome commerce in the Medi- 

 terranean. 



As the making of rivers navigable is of great benefit to commerce, 

 we mufl note, that an a.& of parliament was now pafTed for mak- 

 ing the Thames navigable for barges, lighters, and boats, from the 

 village of Bercot, feven miles below Oxford, up to that city, for the 

 conveyance of Oxford freeflone by water to London, and of coals and 

 other necefHuies from London to Oxford, now coming at a dear rate, 

 only by land-carriage ; whereby the roads were become exceeding bad. 

 [21 j^ac. I, c. 32.] It is fomewhat remarkable, that the preamble of 

 this adl takes notice, that the river Thames, for many miles beyond the 

 city of Oxford, was already navigable for fuch barges, lighters, &c. and 

 alfo from Bercot to London. So here was only feven miles of that 

 river to be made navigable. And that whereas a former acl [3 'Jac. /, 

 c. 20] did not anfwer the end, viz. for clearing the paifage by water 

 from London to Oxford, and beyond, it was therefor hereby repealed. 



By an ad of parliament for granting the king three entire fublidies, 

 and three fifteenths, and three tenths, for making war againfl Spain, 

 there was a referve of Li 8,000 out of this grant for the relief of decay- 

 ed cities and towns. [21 Jiic. I, c. 34.] 



This old way of graathig fupplies to the crown by fifteenths and 

 tenths, has puzzled our modern antiquaries, who feera utterly at a lofs 



* 111 this a<fl the word iutcrcjl is for the firft time ufed for the forbearance of money, though th,» 

 word ujury is alfo therein retained as a fyiionymous term. 



