LONDON. 



^ ift of December, 1600, the qncen granted the firll patent though never abolifhed by any direft ftatute, men, rf jrardld* 

 to the Eaft India Company. Their llock then amounted to of the prerogative whence they were derived, gradually in- 

 vaded tlie privileges they conferred, and commerce was 

 increafed by the mcreafe of liberty. 



The augmented commerce of the port of London, in this' 

 reign, may in fome meafure be eltimated by the quota of 

 fhip-moncy, which Charles I. impofcd on the city m 1C34. 

 By one writ, the citizens were ordered to fit out and equip. 



72,000/. and with this lum the company was enabled to fit 

 o'.!t four fhips under the command of James Lancafter. 

 The adventure proving fuccefsful, the company continued 

 its exertions, and hence has ariftn the mod fplendid and 

 powerful mercantile affociation that probably ever exilled 

 in the world. (See Co^rPANY, Enjl India.) Affurance 

 and infurance companies were now eftabliflied in London. 



at their own charge, for 26 weeks, one fliip of c)co tons 



An ait was pafled in 1601 for regulating the bufincfs of and 93c men, one of 800 tons and 260 men, fovir of 500 



affurance, and a Handing commifTion of merchants appointed 

 \a meet weekly " at the ofiice of infurance on the weft 

 fide cf the Royal Exchange." (See In.sIjR.-yncr Companies) 

 The company of Spanifli merchants were likewil'e among 

 the number of thofe incorporated by Elizabeth, fo that the 

 reign of that princefs may be jullly faid to form a grand 

 era in the commercial hitlory of this metropolis. 



tons each and 200 men, and one of 300 tons and ijo men. 

 Next year they were commanded to provide tuo (hips of 

 800 tons and 3 20 men each. About this time, or at leait very 

 fhortly before, prices-current were lirft printed. In 1635', 

 an order was iflued by the king in council to the " pott- 

 mafter of England for foreign parts," requiring him to 

 open a regular communication, by running poll between the 



In the reign of James I. the progrefs of the foreign trade metropolis and Edinburgh, Ireland, and a variety of other 

 was rapidly increafed. Tobacco, whioli had tirll been in- places. 



troduced in 1 565, now became a confiderable article wf 

 import. (Sec Tobacco.) The tonnage and number of 

 the (liipping in the port of London were greatly-augmented 

 about this time. Many of the patents granted by Elizabeth 

 were annulled, and the trade thrown open. Howe, fpeak- 

 ing of the foreign commerce of this city in the year 1 614, 

 fays, " London, at this day, is one of the beft governed, 

 moft richell, and flouriftiing cities in Europe ; plenteoufly 

 abounding in free trade and commerce with all nations ; 



Previous to the year 1640, it was ufunl for the merchants 

 to depofit their cafh in the Tower mint ; but this depofit 

 now loft all its credit by tlie ill-advifed meafure of a forced 

 loan, whicli the king thought proper to make. The mer- 

 chants, in confequence, found themfclves obliged to trull 

 their money to their apprentices and clerks. The circum- 

 ftances of the times and opportunity holding forth great in- 

 ducements to frauds, many matters loft at once both their 

 fervanls and their money. Some remedy became neceflary ; 



richly ftored with gold, filver, pearl, fpice, pepper, and and the merchants now began to lodge cafti in the hands of 



many nx\iet: Jlraiv^e commodities from both Indies; oyles the goldfmiths, whom they alfo commiffioned to receive and 



from Candy, Cyprus, and other places under the Turk's to pay for them. Thus originated the pradtice of banking : 



dominion ; ftrong wines, fweet fruits, fugar, and fpice, from for tlie goldfmiths, foon perceiving the advantages that 



Grecia, Venice, Spaync, Barbaria, the iflands and other might be derived from difpofable capital, began to allow a 



places lately difcovered and known; drugs from Egypt, regular intereft for all fums committed to their care ; and, at 



the fame time, they commenced the difcounting of mer- 

 chants' bills at a yet fnpcrior interoft than what they paid. 

 (See B.iNK and Bakking.) In 1651 the celebrated navi- 

 gation a£l was pafted, the wife provifions of which have no 

 doubt contributed much to promote our naval and com- 

 mercial greatnefs. This fame year, coffee was introduced 

 into London by a Turkey merchant named Edwards. (See 

 Coffee.) The fugar trade was now likewife eftabhflied ; 

 and upuards cf 20,oco cloths were lent annually to Turkey, 

 in return for the commodities ef that country. 



The plague, which made fuch dreadful havoc among the 

 citizens in t66), almoft wholly fufpended the commerce of 

 London ; infomuch that fcarcely a lir.gle foreign veffel en- 

 Howe's edition of Stow's Annals of tered the port for the fpace of three years. The great fire,,, 



which happened in 1666, likewife occafioned incalculable 

 lofs to numbers of the moll opulent merchants in the city. 

 Notwithllanding thefe difaftrous events, however, the fpirit 

 of the furvivors, fo far from linking, was roufed to un- 

 common exertions. In the courfe of a few years,, the city 

 rofe from its allies with greater magnifkence and fplendcur.. 

 India muflins were firll worn in 1670, and foon became pre- 

 valent. In this year alfo was the Hudfon's Bay Company 



Arabia, India, and divers other places ; filks from Pcrfia, 

 Spayne, China, Italy, &c. ; fine linen from Germany, Flan- 

 ders, Holland, Artois, and Hanault ; wax, flax, pitch, 

 tarre, maftes, cables, and honey, from Denmark, Poland, 

 Swethland, RuHia, and other northern countries ; and the 

 fuperfluity in abundance of French and Rhenifli wines, the 

 immeafurable and incomparable increafe of all which coming 

 into this city, and the encreafe of houfes and inhabitants 

 within the terme amd compafie of fifty years, is fuch and fo 

 great, as were there not now two-thirds of the people yet 

 living, having been eye-witneftes of the premifes and bookes 

 jof the cuftom-hisufe, which remain extant, the truth and 

 difference of all things afore-mentioned were not to be jufti- 

 fied and believed, 

 England, p. 86S 



Among ihe circum.ftances which occafioned the vail in- 

 creafe of trade during this reign, may be reckoned the 

 colonization of America and the Weft India iflands. The 

 new difcoveries, likewife, which were every day made in 

 different quarters of the world, no doubt had a powerful 

 effect in ftimulating /lumbers of fpeculating perfons to com- 

 mercial exertion and adventure, 



During the peaceful years of Charles I. the commerce of eltabliftied, with very extenfive powers.. The Greenland 



this metropolis ftill contirued to make rapid progrels ; and Filhing Company was incorporated in the year 1693; and 



though the civil wars, for a time, had a very contrary opera- the inllitution of the Bank of England rendered tlie fuc- 



tion, yet in the end they certainly proved beneficial. The ceedhig one ju.ftly memorable in the commercial annals of 



energies, of the mind wei'e more awakened ; the habits of London. See Company. 



thinking and modes of aftion, which then became jjencral. The commerce to the Eaft Indies having become vailly 



taught man to feel his dignity as an individual ; the different enlarged, and many djfputes arifing relative to exclufive 



ranks of fociety were more clofely drawn together; the ex- trade, a new joint llock company was incorporated in Lon- 



frtions of induftry were better direftcd ; and the m.cans of don, in the year 169S, by the n-ime of "The Enghlh 



acquiring wealth greatly augmented. The injurious ten- Company trading to the Eall Indies." The exiftence of 



4eBcy of mgnopolics \ias tminently cotmteraftid j for, t.wo rival comjjaiues having the fame privileges, however, 



fvoa 



