M E R 
The law of England alio, as a commercial country, pays 
a very particular regard to foreign merchants, in innumer¬ 
able inftances. Thus it is provided by Magna Charta,c. 30, 
that all merchants, unlefs beforehand publicly prohibited, 
Jhtj.ll have fafe conduit to depart from, to come into, or 
tarry in, and to go through, England, for the exercile of 
merchandise, without any unreafonable impofts, except in 
time of war ; and, if a war break out between us and 
their country, they lhall be attached, if in England, with¬ 
out harm ol body or goods, till the king, or his chief juf- 
ticiary, be informed how our merchants are treated in the 
land with which we are at war; and, if our’s are fecure 
in that land, they lhall be fecure in our’s. Upon which 
Montefquieu remarks, with admiration, that the Englifh 
have made the protection of foreign merchants one of the 
articles of their national liberty; and alfo, that the Eng- 
lilh know better than any other people upon earth, how to 
value at the fame time thefe three great advantages, reli¬ 
gion, liberty, and commerce. In this refpeCt their dil- 
polition is very different from the genius of the Roman 
people ; who, in their manners, their conftitution, and even 
in their laws, treated commerce as a dilhonourable employ¬ 
ment, and prohibited the exercile of it to perfons of birth, 
rank, or fortune ; and equally different from the bigotry 
of the canonilts, who looked on trade as inconlillent with 
Chriftianity, and determined at the council of Melfi, un¬ 
der pope Urban II. A. D. 1090, “ that it w'as impolfible, 
with a fafe confcience, to exercile any traffic, or follow 
the profeffion of the law.” 
Foreign merchants are to fell their merchandife at the 
port where they land, in grols, and not by retail; and 
they are allowed to be paid in gold or filver bullion, in 
foreign coin or jewels, which may be exported. If a dif¬ 
ference arife between the king and any foreign ftate, the 
merchants of that ftate are allowed fix months time to fell 
theireffeCls and leave the kingdom; during which time 
they are to remain free and unmolefted in their perfons 
and.goods. 
Before a perfon engages in general trade, he ought to 
treafure up fuch a fund of ufeful knowledge as will ena¬ 
ble him to carry it on with eafe to himlelf, and without 
rilking fuch Ioffes as great ill-concerted undertakings 
would naturally expofe him to. A merchant ffiould there¬ 
fore be acquainted with the following parts of commercial 
learning : 1. He Ihould write properly and correftly. 2. 
Underhand all the rules of arithmetic that have any rela¬ 
tion to commerce. 3. Know how to keep books of fingle 
and double entry, as journals, legers, &c. 4. Be expert 
in the forms of invoices, accounts of tales, policies of in- 
lurance, charter-parties, bills of lading, and bills of ex¬ 
change. 5. Know the agreement between the money, 
weights, and meafures, of different countries. 6. If he 
deals in fiik, woollen, linen, or hair, manufactures, he 
ought to know the places where thefe different forts of 
merchandil'es are manufactured, in what manner they are 
made, what are the materials of which they are compoled, 
and from whence they come, the preparations of thele ma¬ 
terials before working up, and the places to which they 
are lent after their fabrication. 7. He ought to know the 
lengths and breadths which filk, woollen, or hair, fluffs, 
linen, cottons, fuftians, &c. ought to have according to 
the feveral ftatutes and regulations of the places where 
they are manufactured, with their different prices accord¬ 
ing to the times and leafons ; and, if he can add to his 
knowledge the different dyes and ingredients which 
form the various colours, it will not be ufelefs. 8. If he 
confines his trade to oils, wines, &c. he ought to in¬ 
form himlelf particularly of the appearances of the fuc- 
ceeding crops, in order to regulate his dilpofing of what 
he has on hand ; and to learn as exaCtly as he can what 
they have produced when got in, for his direction in 
making the neceflary purchafes and engagements. 9. He 
ought to be acquainted with the forts of merchandife 
found more in one country than another, thole which are 
M E R 135 
fcarce, their different fpecies and qualities, and the pro- 
perelt method for bringing them to a good market either 
by land or lea. 10. To know which are the merchan- 
difes permitted or prohibited, as well on entering as going 
out of the kingdoms ot Hates where they are made. 11, 
To be acquainted udth the price of exchange, according 
to the courfe of different places, and what is the caufe of 
its rile and fall. 12. To know the cultoms due on im¬ 
portation or exportation of merchandil'es, according to 
the ufages, tariffs, and regulations, of different coun¬ 
tries. 13. To know the belt manner of folding up, pack¬ 
ing, or tunning, the merchandiles for their prelervation. 
14. To Linderiland the price and condition of freighting 
and infuring Ihips and merchandife. 15. To be acquaint¬ 
ed with the goodnefs and value of all necelfaries for the 
conftruCtion and repairs of Ihipping, the different manner 
of tlipir building; what the wood, the malts, cordage, 
cannons, fails, and all requifites, may colt. 16. To know 
the wages commonly given to the captains, officers, and 
failors, and the manner of engaging with them. 17. He 
ought to underltand the foreign languages, or at lealt as 
many of them as he can attain to: thele may be reduced 
to four, viz. the Spanilh, which is ufed not only in Spain, 
but on the coall of Africa, from the Canaries to the Cape 
of Good Hope ; the Italian, which Is underllood on all 
the coalts of the Mediterranean, and in many parts of 
• the Levant; the German, which is underllood in almoil 
all the northern countries ; and the French, which is now 
become almolt univerfally current. 18. He ought to be 
acquainted with the confular jurifdiition, with the laws, 
cultoms, and ufages, of the different countries he does or 
may trade to ; and in general with all the ordinances and 
regulations both at home and abroad that have any rela¬ 
tion to commerce. 
MER'CH ANT-CITY, f. A city devoted or addiited 
to traffic.—The Lord hath given a commandment againft 
the merchant-city, to deftroy the ftrong holds thereof. 
Ifa. Xviii. 11. 
MER'CHANT-MAN, J'. A fhip of trade.—Pirates have 
fair winds and a calm fea, when the juft and peaceful mer¬ 
chant-man hath them. Taylor. —In the time of Augultus 
and Tiberius, the fouthern coalts of Spain lent great fleets 
of merchant-men to Italy. Arhuthnot. —A man employed 
in trade. 
MER'CHANTABLE, adj. Fit to be bought or fold.—• 
Why they placed this invention in the beaver, befide the 
medical and merchantable commodity of callor, or parts 
conceived to be bitten away, might be thelagacity of that 
animal. Ur own's Vulgar Errours. 
MER'CHANTLY, or Mer'chantlike, adj. Like a 
merchant. 
MERCHESVAN', in Hebrew chronology, the month 
otherwife called Buh 
MER'CHET. See Marchet, vol. xiv. p. 344. 
MER'CIA, the name of one of the feven kingdoms 
founded in England by the Saxons. Though the la tell 
formed, it was the largelt of them all, and grew by degrees 
to be far the moll powerful. On the north it was bounded 
by the Humber and the Merfey, which feparaled it from 
the kingdom of Northumberland ; on the eaft by the fea, 
and the territories of the Eaft Angles and Saxons ; on the 
fouth by the river Thames; and on the weft by the Severn 
and Dee. It comprehended nearly feventeen of our mo¬ 
dern counties, being equal in lize to the province of 
Languedoc in France ; very little, if at all, lels than the 
kingdom of Arragon in Spain ; and fuperior in lize to that 
of Bohemia in Germany. 
Penda is regarded as its firft monarch; and the king¬ 
dom is thought to derive its name from the Saxon word 
mere, which iignifies “ a march, bound, or limit,” becaule 
the other kingdoms bordered upon it on every fide ; and 
not from the river Merfey, as lome would perfuade us. 
Penda affumed the regal title A. D. 626, and was of the 
age of fifty at the time of his accelfion ; after which he 
