A. D. 1660. 483 



'fore with a daughter, was efteemed a larger portion than L2000 in his 

 time ; that gentlewomen in thole days elleemed themlelves well cloth- 

 ed in a ferge gown, which a chambermaid now would be aOiamed 

 to be feen in ; that, beiide the great increafe of rich clothes, plate, 

 jewels, and houfehold furniture, there were 100 coaches now to one 

 kept formerly ; all which, and much more, he folely ai'cribes to the 

 abatement of intereft, which he calls the caufa caiifans of all the other 

 caufes of the riches of the Dutch as well as of ourfelves, increafed to 

 fix times what it then was : ' hereby alio,' fays he, ' we are enabled to 

 ' pay a greater tax in one year than our forefathers could in twenty.' 

 ' I can,' fays he, ' myfelf remember, fince there were not ufed in Lon- 

 ' don lo many wharfs or quays for landing of merchants goods, by at 

 ' leaft one third part, as now there are, and thofe that were then 

 ' could fcarce have employment for half what they could do. Lands 



* in the country now yield twenty years purchafe, which would not 



* then have yielded above eight or ten at mod. The llime farms or 

 ' lands to be now fold would yield treble,' and in fome cafes fix times, 

 ' the money they were fold for fifty years ago. Ireland has alfo been 



* vaftly improved in its lands, fince great part of it has been lately pof- 



* fefled by the induftrious Englifii, who were foldiers in the late army.' 

 In brief, he lays it down as a conflant rule to judge whether any coun- 

 try be rich or poor, to know what intereft they pay for money. ' Near 



* home,' continues he, ' we fee it evidently in Scotland * and Ireland 

 ' where, lo and 1 2 per cent being paid for intereft, the people are poor, 



* deipicable, ill clothed, and their houies worie provided, money in- 

 ' tolerably fcarce, notwithftanding their great plenty of all provisions. 

 ' In France, where money is at 7 per cent, lands yield about eighteen 

 ' years purchafe. In Italy, money will not yield above 3 per cent up- 

 ' on real fecurity, and there the people are rich, full of trade, well at- 



* tired, and their lands will fell at 35 to 40 years purchafe : and that it 

 « is fo, or better with them in Holland, is too manifeft. In Turkey 20 

 « per cent is their intereft, which makes commerce there to be en- 



* grolled by a few, as is always the cafe where intereft is very high, and 



* was the cafe in England in EHzabeth's and James I's time, when in- 

 ' tereft was at 10 per cent. In Spain, the ufual intereft is 10 and 12 per 

 « cent ; and there, notwithftanding they have the only trade in the 

 ' world for gold and filver, money is nowhere more fcarce ; the people 



* poor, defpicable, and void of commerce, other than what the Englifii, 

 ' Dutch, Italians, Jews, and other foreigners bring to them, who are to 

 t them, in effect, as leeches who fuck their blood and vital fpirits from 

 t them.' Our author, however, feems to have been aware of a very 



* He miift be miftaken with lefpeft to Scotland, where intereft was reduced by aft of parliament 

 to 8 per cent in the year 1C33. A. 



3P2 



