546 



A. D. 1670. 



5thly, We have now more than doable the number of merchants and 

 {hipping that we had twenty years ago. 



6t]ily, The courfe of our trade, from the increafe of our money, is 

 ftrangely altered within thefe twenty years ; moft payments from mer- 

 chants and fliopkeepers being now made with ready money ; whereas 

 formerly the courfe of our general trade did run at three, fix, nine, 

 twelve, and eighteen, months time. 



As to the objection, that all forts of men complain fo much of the 

 fcarcity of money, efpecially in the country, he judicioufly anfwers, 



-That this hiimour of complaining proceeds from the frailty of our 

 natures : it being natural for men to complaiii of the prefent, and to 

 commend the times p;ifi;. ' And I can fay with truth, upon my own 

 ' memory, that men did complain as much of the fcarcity of money 

 ' ever fince I knew the world as they do now : nay, the very fame per- 

 ' fons who now complain of this, and commend that time.' 



This complaint proceeds from many men finding themfelves uneafv 

 in matters of their religion (i. e. the perfecution of the proteflant dif- 

 fenter.^,) ; it being natural for men, when they are dilcontented at one 

 thing, to complain of all. 



And more efpecially, this complaint in the country proceeds from the 

 late practice of bringing v;p the tax-money in waggons, which did 

 doubtlefs caufe a fcarcity of money in the country *. 



And, principally, this feeming fcarcity of money proceeds from the 

 trade of hankering, which obflrucSts circulation, advances ufury, and 

 renders it fo eafy that moft men, as foon as they can make up a lum of 

 L50 or Li 00, fend it into the goldlmith : which doth, and will occafion, 

 while it laftb, that fatal prclTing neceflity for money fo vifible through- 

 out the wliole kingdom, both to prince and people. 



Ibis paragraph, fo far as relates to circulation, merits explication : for 

 the money lb put into the goldfmiths hands in thofe times was far from 

 circulating, as the running cafli-notes of the bank of England, and; 

 of fom.e bankers, do in our days ; for in fuch cafe itwculd undoubtedly 

 have iricreai'ed the currency ; but as the bankers of London in thofe 

 ti-^'es advanced their money to the king on the credit of parliamentary 

 grants, and thofe advances were then always at extravagant intereft ; the 

 bankers therefor, in order to be ready to fupply the neceflities of that 

 improvident prince, were glad to allow a. lower intereft for a certain 

 tmie to people who brought their money to them ; which trade certain- 

 ly hindered the circulation of money, inftead of increafing it : but we 

 fliall loon fee an end put to it, by fliutting up the exchequer. 



This famous author alfo infills mjjch on the great advantage the 

 Dutch had over England, in point of commerce, from the lownefs of 



* In this gemleman's time the dealings between London and the country were probably not fo 

 great as in our days ; and thereloi bills of exchange might not thtn be fo eafily obtained as now. y?- 



