a discourse of coin and coinage the first invention, use, matter, forms, proportions, and differences, ancient and modern. with the advantages and disadvantages of the rise and fall thereof, in their own or neighbouring nations: and the reasons. together with a short account of our common-law therein. as also tables of the value of all sorts of pearls, diamonds, gold, silver, and other metals. by rice vaughan, late of grays-inn, esq; vaughan, rice. 1696 approx. 1 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64755 wing v131 estc r217604 99829262 99829262 33699 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64755) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 33699) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1940:8) a discourse of coin and coinage the first invention, use, matter, forms, proportions, and differences, ancient and modern. with the advantages and disadvantages of the rise and fall thereof, in their own or neighbouring nations: and the reasons. together with a short account of our common-law therein. as also tables of the value of all sorts of pearls, diamonds, gold, silver, and other metals. by rice vaughan, late of grays-inn, esq; vaughan, rice. vaughan, henry, 1622-1695. the second edition. [12], 117, 120-[2]48, [4] p. : tables printed for anthony feltham, at the foot of the parlament-stares, westminster, london : 1696. "epistle dedicatory" signed: henry vaughan. caption title on p. 1: of coin and coinage. text is continuous despite pagination; the "2" on the last numbered page failed to print in the copy cataloged. tables giving the values of precious stones begin on l11r (pp. 237-245). reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money supply -england -early works to 1800. precious stones -valuation -england -early works to 1800. 2008-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-04 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-04 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of coin and coinage : the first invention , vse , matter , forms , proportions , and differences , antient and modern with the advantages and disadvantages of the rise and fall thereof , in their own or neighbouring nations : and the reasons . together with a short account of our common-law therein . as also tables of the value ot all sorts of pearls , diamonds , gold , silver , and other metals . by rice vaughan , late of grays-inn , esq the second edition . london , printed for anthony feltham , at the foot of the parlament-stares , westminster , 1696. price bound die lunæ 6 septemb. 1647. an ordinance or the lords and commons assembled in parliament, that from henceforth no moneys clipt, filed, or deminished, shall be payable, or received in payment within this kingdom. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a83303 of text r221657 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.11[75]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a83303 wing e2085 thomason 669.f.11[75] estc r221657 99871629 99871629 162727 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a83303) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 162727) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f11[75]) die lunæ 6 septemb. 1647. an ordinance or the lords and commons assembled in parliament, that from henceforth no moneys clipt, filed, or deminished, shall be payable, or received in payment within this kingdom. england and wales. parliament. england and wales. 1 sheet ([1] p.) for john wright at the kings head in the old baily, printed at london : 1647. no diminished money shall be current, but be treated as bullion. worn coin is still tender -cf. steele. order to print signed: jo. browne cler. parliamentorum. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. counterfeits and counterfeiting -england -early works to 1800. money -england -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1642-1649 -early works to 1800. a83303 r221657 (thomason 669.f.11[75]). civilwar no die lunæ 6 septemb. 1647. an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament, that from henceforth no moneys clipt, filed, or dem england and wales. parliament. 1647 390 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-12 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-12 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion die lunae 6 septemb. 1647. an ordinance of the lords and commons assembled in parliament , that from henceforth no moneys clipt , filed , or deminished , shall be payable , or received in payment within this kingdom . for as much as during these distractions great sums of moneys clipped and unlawfully diminished , have beene dispersed and given out amongst the people thorowout the kingdome ; for the speedy suppression thereof and prevention of the like in the future , be it ordained by the lords and commons in parliament assembled , that from henceforth no money diminished by clipping or filing shall be currant or payable in this kingdome , or be offered in payment , or received as due payment by any person whatsoever , but be esteemed as bullion , and no otherwise . and to the end that such moneys as are by this present ordinance declared to be uncurrant , may not for the present become unusefull unto such as live in remote parts of the kingdome , and cannot sell them but at under rates ; be it ordained , that for three moneths after the date hereof , the said clipt money shall be allowed of in payment , at foure shillings ten pence per ounce for goldsmiths weight , which is troy weight , or foure shillings foure pence half penny the ounce avordupoyz , which is the common weight . and all persons may hereby take notice , that such clipped money will yeeld in london foure shillings and eleven pence per ounce for goldsmiths weight , and foure shilings five pence halfpenny per ounce for avordupoyz waight at the least . provided neverthelesse that it is not hereby intended that any old moneys , which are apparent not to be clipt , or otherwise unlawfully diminished , but onely growne light through waring and wasting , by long passing from hand to hand , shall be included within this order , but shall still be currant without dispute as formerly . die lunae 6 septemb. 1647. ordered by the lords assembled in parliament , that this ordinance be forthwith printed and published . jo. brown cler. parliamentorum . printed at london for john wright at the kings head in the old baily . 1647. sir, this day was published an act for continuing several duties granted by former acts upon wine, vinegar, tobacoo, east-indian goods, and other merchandise (imported) untill the 29th day of september 1701 wherein is a clause for preventing the further encrease of the rate of coyned gold, which enacts. 1696 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a48129 wing l1588 estc r30991 11759817 ocm 11759817 48650 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a48129) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48650) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1486:26) sir, this day was published an act for continuing several duties granted by former acts upon wine, vinegar, tobacoo, east-indian goods, and other merchandise (imported) untill the 29th day of september 1701 wherein is a clause for preventing the further encrease of the rate of coyned gold, which enacts. england and wales. parliament. 1 broadside. printed for e. whitlock ..., london : mdcxcvi [1696] reproduction of original in chetham's library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -law and legislation -england. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion sir , this day was published an act for continuing several duties granted by former acts , upon wine , vinegar , tobacco , east-india goods , and other merchandise ( imported ) untill the 29th . day of september 1701. wherein is a clause for preventing the further encrease of the rate of coyned gold , which enacts . that from and after the 25 th . day of march 1696. no person shall receive , take or pay any of the pieces of gold coyn of this kingdom , commonly called guineas , at an higher rate than 26 s. each , and not to exceed the same in proportion for half guineas , double guineas , and five pound pieces , on penalty of forfeiting double the value of gold so received or paid , and also the sum of 20 l. one moiety to his majesty , and the other to the person or persons who shall sue or inform for the same , to be recovered by action of debt , bill , plaint or information , wherein no privelidge , protection or wager of law shall be allowed , or more than one imparlance . that nothing in this act contained , shall compel any person to receive , any guinea or guineas at the said rate of twenty six shillings . london , printed for e. whitlock , near stationers hall. mdcxcvi . an act touching the moneys and coyns of england. england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a82486 of text r211240 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.14[58]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a82486 wing e1158 thomason 669.f.14[58] estc r211240 99869970 99869970 163046 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a82486) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 163046) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f14[58]) an act touching the moneys and coyns of england. england and wales. parliament. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed for edward husband and john field, printers to the parliament of england, london : 1649. order to print dated: die martis, 17 julii, 1649. signed: hen: scobell, cleric. parliamenti. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng money -england -early works to 1800. coinage -great britain -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1649-1660 -early works to 1800. a82486 r211240 (thomason 669.f.14[58]). civilwar no an act touching the moneys and coyns of england. england and wales. parliament. 1649 659 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion blazon or coat of arms an act touching the moneys and coyns of england . vvhereas the ordering of moneys and coyns , and setting the same at such valuations and prizes as shall be thought convenient and necessary , is appropriate and of right belonging to the soveraign and supreme authority of this commonwealth ; and the parliament having resolved to change and alter the former stamps , arms , pictures , with the motto's , vvords , stiles and inscriptions in and about the same , and to cause new coyns of gold and silver to be made of several stamps , weights and values , but of one uniform standard and allay , to be currant within this state and commonwealth of england ; ( that is to say ) one piece of gold of the value of twenty shillings sterlin , to be called , the twenty shillings piece , stamped on the one side with the cross , and a palm and lawrel , with these words , the commonwealth of england ; and on the other side with the cross and harp , with these words , god with us : one other piece of gold money of ten shillings , to be called , the ten shillings piece ; and one other piece of gold money of five shillings , to be called , the five shillings piece , with the same vvords , inscriptions , pictures and arms on each side as the former : and for silver moneys , pieces of five shillings , and pieces of two shillings and six pence , and pieces of twelve pence , and pieces of six pence , having the same vvords , inscriptions , pictures and arms on each side as the former ; also pieces of two pence , and one peny , having the same pictures and arms as the former , without any vvords or inscriptions ; and the half peny having on the one side a cross , and on the other side a harp : all which several coyns of gold and silver , the parliament doth hereby enact , declare , publish and authorize to be amongst others heretofore used , the moneys currant for this state and commonwealth of england , to be used and received by all the people of this nation , in all receipts and payments , and in all maner of traffiquing , bargaining and dealing between man and man , at the several rates and values contained in the schedule or table hereunto annexed , expressing their true values and vveights , according to the accompt of the mint within the tower of london . pieces of gold .   peny weights 20. grains 24. mites 20. droits 24. perits 20. blanks 24. s. xx 05 20 10 00 00 00 s. x 02 22 05 00 00 00 s. v 01 11 02 12 00 00 pieces of silver . s. v 19 08 10 08 00 00 s. d. ii vi 09 16 05 04 00 00 d. xii 03 20 18 01 10 00 d. vi 01 22 09 00 15   d. ii 00 15 09 16 05   d. i 00 07 14 20 02 12 ob . 00 03 17 10 01 06 memorandum , twelve ounces makes a pound weight troy ; twenty peny weight makes an ounce ; twenty four grains makes a peny weight ; twenty mites makes a grain ; twenty four droits makes a mite ; twenty perits makes a droit ; twenty four blanks makes a perit . die martis , 17 julii , 1649. ordered by the parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric . parliamenti . london , printed by edward husband and john field , printers to the parliament of england . 1649. an act touching the moneys and coyns of england england and wales. parliament. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a37603 of text r39470 in the english short title catalog (wing e1159). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a37603 wing e1159 estc r39470 18420853 ocm 18420853 107547 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37603) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107547) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1632:29) an act touching the moneys and coyns of england england and wales. parliament. 1 broadside. printed for edward husband ..., [london] : 1649. "die martis, 17 julii, 1649. ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that this act be forthwith printed and published. [countersigned] hen: scobell, cleric parliament." imperfect: cropped. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng money -england. great britain -history -commonwealth and protectorate, 1649-1660. a37603 r39470 (wing e1159). civilwar no an act touching the moneys and coyns of england. england and wales 1649 657 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-08 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-08 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion [illegible figure at head of title] an act touching the moneys and coyns of england . vvhereas the ordering of moneys and coyns , and setting the same at such valuations and prizes as shall be thought convenient and necessary , is appropriate and of right belonging to the soveraign and supreme authority of this commonwealth ; and the parliament having resolved to change and alter the former stamps , arms , pictures , with the motto's , vvords , stiles and inscriptions in and about the same , and to cause new coyns of gold and silver to be made of several stamps , vveights and values , but of one uniform standard and allay , to be current within this state and commonwealth of england ; ( that is to say ) one piece of gold of the value of twenty shillings sterlin , to be called , the twenty shillings piece , stamped on the one side with the cross , and a palm and lawrel , with these words , the commonwealth of england ; and on the other side with the cross and harp , with these words , god with us : one other piece of gold money of ten shillings , to be called , the ten shillings piece ; and one other piece of gold money of five shillings , to be called , the five shillings piece , with the same vvords , inscriptions , pictures and arms on each side , as the former : and for silver moneys , pieces of five shillings , and pieces of two shillings and six pence , and pieces of twelve pence , and pieces of six pence , having the same vvords , inscriptions , pictures and arms on each side as the former ; also pieces of two pence , and one peny , having the same pictures and arms as the former , without any vvords or inscriptions ; and the half peny having on the one side a cross , and on the other side a harp : all which several coyns of gold and silver , the parliament doth hereby enact , declare , publish and authorize to be amongst others heretofore used , the moneys current for this state and commonwealth of england , to be used and received by all the people of this nation , in all receipts and payments , and in all maner of traffiquing , bargaining and dealing between man and man , at the several rates and values contained in the schedule or table hereunto annexed , expressing their true values and vveights , according to the accompt of the mint within the tower of london . pieces of gold .   peny weights 20. grains 24. mites 20. droits 24. perits 20. blanks 24. s. xx 05 20 10 00 00 00 s. x 02 22 05 00 00 00 s. v 01 11 02 12 00 00 pieces of silver . s. v 19 08 10 08 00 00 s.d. ii vi 09 16 05 04 00 00 d. xii 03 20 18 01 10 00 d. vi 01 22 09 00 15   d. ii 00 15 09 16 05   d. i 00 07 14 20 02 12 ob . 00 03 17 10 01 06 memorandum , twelve ounces makes a pound weight troy ; twenty peny weight makes an ounce ; twenty four grains makes a peny weight ; twenty mites makes a grain ; twenty four droits makes a mite ; twenty perits makes a droit ; twenty four blanks makes a perit . die martis , 17 julii , 1649. ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that this act be forthwith printed and published . hen : scobell , cleric . parliament . printed for edward husband , printer to the parliament of england , 1649. a table to know what a hundred waight commeth to from a farthing the pound, to 2'-6d the pound. newton, john, 1622-1678. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a95703 of text r210358 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.10[24]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 11 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a95703 wing t91 thomason 669.f.10[24] estc r210358 99869166 99869166 162565 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a95703) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 162565) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f10[24]) a table to know what a hundred waight commeth to from a farthing the pound, to 2'-6d the pound. newton, john, 1622-1678. 1 sheet ([1] p.) : table printed for george lindsey, and are to be sold over against london-stone, london : [1645] author's name and imprint date from wing. annotation on thomason copy: "march 22th 1644". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng money -england -tables -early works to 1800. a95703 r210358 (thomason 669.f.10[24]). civilwar no a table to know what a hundred waight commeth to from a farthing the pound, to 2'-6d the pound. newton, john 1645 895 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 c the rate of 11 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-07 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-07 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a table to know what a hundred waight commeth to from a farthing the pound , to 2● — 6d the pound .   l s d a farthing 0 2 4 2 farthings 0 4 8 3 farthings 0 7 0 1 penny 0 9 4 1 — farthing 0 11 8 1 — hapeny 0 14 0 1 — 3 farthings 0 16 4 2 pence 0 18 8 2 — farthing 1 1 0 2 — hapeny 1 3 4 2 — 3 farthings 1 5 8 3 pence 1 8 0 3 — farthing 1 10 4 3 — hapeny 1 12 8 3 — 3 farthings 1 15 0 4 pence 1 17 4 4 — farthing 1 19 8 4 — hapeny 2 2 0 4 — 3 farthings 2 4 4 5 pence 2 6 8 5 — farthing 2 9 0 5 — hapeny 2 11 4 5 — 3 farthings 2 13 8 6 pence 2 16 0 6 — farthing 2 18 4 6 — hapeny 3 0 8 6 — 3 farthings 3 3 0 7 pence 3 5 4 7 — farthing 3 7 8 7 — hapeny 3 10 0 7 — 3 farthings 3 12 4 8 pence 3 14 8 8 — farthing 3 17 0 8 — hapeny 3 19 4 8 — 3 farthings 4 1 8 9 pence 4 4 0 9 — farthing 4 6 4 9 — hapeny 4 8 8 9 — 3 farthings 4 11 0 10 pence 4 13 4 10 — far 4 15 8 10 — half 4 18 0 10 — 3 far . 5 0 4 11 pence 5 2 8 11 — far 5 5 0 11 — half 5 7 4 11 — 3 far 5 9 8 1 shilling 5 12 0 1 — 1 far 5 14 4 1 — 1 half 5 16 8 1 — 3 far 5 19 0 1 — 1 penny 6 1 4 1 — 1 — far 6 3 8 1 — 1 — half 6 6 0 1 — 1 — 3 far 6 8 4 1 — 2 pence 6 10 8 1 — 2 — far 6 13 0 1 — 2 — half 6 15 4 1 — 2 — 3 — far 6 17 8 1 — 3 pence 7 0 0 1 — 3 — far 7 2 4 1 — 3 — half 7 4 8 1 — 3 — 3 far 7 7 0 1 — 4 pence 7 9 4 1 — 4 — far 7 11 8 1 — 4 — half 7 14 0 1 — 4 — 3 far 7 16 4 1 — 5 pence 8 18 8 1 — 5 — far 8 1 0 1 — 5 — half 8 3 4 1 — 5 — 3 far 8 5 8 1 — 6 pence 8 8 0 1 — 6 — far 8 10 4 1 — 6 — half 8 12 8 1 — 6 — 3 far 8 15 0 1 — 7 pence 8 17 4 1 — 7 — far 8 19 8 1 — 7 — half 9 2 0 1 — 7 — 3 far 9 4 4 1 — 8 pence 9 6 8 1 — 8 — far 9 9 0 1 — 8 — half 9 11 4 1 — 8 — 3 far 9 13 8 1 — 9 pence 9 16 0 1 — 9 — far 9 18 4 1 — 9 — half 10 0 8 1 — 9 — 3 far 10 3 0 1 — 10 pence 10 5 4 1 — 10 — far 10 7 8 1 — 10 — half 10 10 0 1 — 10 — 3 far 10 12 4 1 — 11 pence 10 14 8 1 — 11 — far 10 17 0 1 — 11 — half 10 19 4 1 — 11 — 3 far 11 1 8 2 shillings 11 4 0 2 — 1 far 11 6 4 2 — 1 hapeny 11 8 8 2 — 3 far 11 11 0 2 — 1 penny 11 13 4 2 — 1 — far 11 15 8 2 — 1 — half 11 18 0 2 — 1 — 3 far 12 00 4 2 — 2 pence 12 2 8 2 — 2 — far 12 5 0 2 — 2 — half 12 7 4 2 — 2 — 3 far 12 9 8 2 — 3 pence 12 12 0 2 — 3 — far 12 14 4 2 — 3 — half 12 16 8 2 — 3 — 3 far 12 19 0 2 — 4 pence 13 1 4 2 — 4 — far 13 3 8 2 — 4 — half 13 5 0 2 — 4 — 3 far 13 7 4 2 — 5 pence 13 9 8 2 — 5 — far 13 12 0 2 — 5 — half 13 14 4 2 — 5 — 3 far 13 16 8 2 — 6 pence 13 19 0 london , printed for george lindsey , and are to be sold over against london-stone . a proclamation for raising the rate of money. scotland. privy council. 1695 approx. 4 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b05674 wing s1896 estc r233590 52528985 ocm 52528985 179086 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b05674) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 179086) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2776:75) a proclamation for raising the rate of money. scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign (1694-1702 : william ii) 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson, printer to his most excellent majesty, edinburgh : anno dom. 1695. caption title. royal arms at head of text; initial letter. dated: given under our signet, at edinburgh, the twelfth day of july, and of our reign the seventh year 1695. signed: gilb. eliot, cls. sti. concilii. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -law and legislation -scotland -early works to 1800. currency question -scotland -early works to 1800. broadsides -scotland -17th century. 2008-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion wr diev et mon droit honi soit qui mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms a proclamation for raising the rate of money . william by the grace of god , king of great-britain , france and ireland , defender of the faith , to macers of our privy council , messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly and severally , specially constitute , greeting ; forasmuch as , by reason of the raising of the rates of the current coyns in the neighbouring kingdoms , and countries with whom this our ancient kingdom hath trade and traffique ; it is found , that there is much money , both gold and silver exported forth of the same , so that a proportional raising of the rate of of the coynspresenly current in this kingdom , is necessary to restrain the said export , and prevent the prejudice thereof ; therefore we with advice of the lords of our privy council have thought fit to raise and hereby do raise the rates of the species after-mentioned , to be from the day and date hereof as follows , viz , the rate of tbe silver crown-piece coyned in scotland , or of the silver milned crown of england , to three pounds six shilling : of the silver scots fourty shilling piece , to fourty four shilling : of the silver milned half-crown of england , to thirty three shilling : of the silver scots twenty shilling piece , to twenty two shilling : of the silver scots ten shilling piece , to eleven shilling : of the ducatdoun , to three pounds fourteen shilling : of the four rex dollars , called the bank-sword-dollar , wild-man and wild-borse dollars , and caste-dollar , to three pounds , all the rest of the rix dollars continuing as they were at the rate of fifty eight shilling : of the scots four merk piece , the leg dollar , french silver crown piece , cross-dollar and milnryne , each of them to fifty eight shilling , and all their halfs and quarters proportionally . and these rates above-set-down , are hereby declared and ordained to be the current rates of the foresaid species and coyns , at which all persons in contracts and bargains , and in all payments whatsomever , shall be obliged to receive the same , as the current coyn of this our antient kingdom . and farder , we do hereby strictly order and command , that the laws and acts of parliament against the transporting of gold and silver out of this kingdom , be punctually observed and put to execution by all concerned . our will is herefore , and we charge you strictly , and command , that incontinent thir our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and whole other marcat-crosses of the head-burghs of the several shires within this kingdom , and there in our name and authority , make publication hereof , that none may pretend ignorance : and ordains these presents to be printed . given under our signet , at edinburgh , the twelfth day of july , and of our reign the seventh year , 1695 . per actum dominorum secreti concilii . gilb . eliot , cls. sti. concilii . god save the king. edinburgh , printed by the heirs and successors of andrew anderson , printer to his most excellent majesty , anno dom. 1695. whereas information is given unto us the lords justices and council, that divers great summes of money have been of late secretly conveyed, and transported out of this kingdom, contrary to the laws and statutes now in force prohibiting the same, to the great impoverishing of the realm, and final consumption to the treasure thereof, if not speedily prevented ... by the lords justices and council, mich. dublin, c., art. forbese. ireland. lords justices and council. 1675 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46155 wing i835 estc r226926 16150459 ocm 16150459 104882 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46155) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104882) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1595:35) whereas information is given unto us the lords justices and council, that divers great summes of money have been of late secretly conveyed, and transported out of this kingdom, contrary to the laws and statutes now in force prohibiting the same, to the great impoverishing of the realm, and final consumption to the treasure thereof, if not speedily prevented ... by the lords justices and council, mich. dublin, c., art. forbese. ireland. lords justices and council. boyle, michael, 1609?-1702. granard, arthur forbes, earl of, 1623-1696. 1 broadside. printed by benjamin tooke ... and are to be sold by joseph wilde ..., dublin : 1675. title from first 8 lines of text. statement of responsibility transposed from head of title. "given at the council-chamber in dublin the six and twentieth day of july, 1675." reproduction of original in the society of antiquaries library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -law and legislation -ireland. monetary policy -ireland. ireland -history -1649-1775. ireland -politics and government -17th century. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-12 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-12 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion cr diev et mon droit honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms by the lords justices and council : mich : dublin . c. art : forbese . whereas information is given unto vs the lords iustices and council , that divers great summes of money have been of late secretly conveyed , and transported out of this kingdom , contrary to the laws and statutes now in force prohibiting the same , to the great impoverishing of the realm , and final consumption of the treasure therof , if not speedily prevented : now we the lords iustices , and council , taking the same into our consideration , have thought fit to will and require , and do hereby strictly charge and command , that all and every the laws , statutes , and ordinances heretofore made for keeping the coyns of this realm within the same , be from henceforth duely and inviolably observed , according to the tenor of them , and that no person or persons whatsoever , shall hereafter attempt to convey , carry , or send , or cause to be conveyed , carried , or sent out of this realm any moneys whatsoever currant within this realm , nor any plate , bullion , gold or silver wrought or unwrought , without the licence of vs the lords iustices , and council , excepting onely so much as shall be necessary for his , and their reasonable expences , which he , and they shall be bound to confess and discover , whensoever they shall be thereunto warned or charged by any of his majesties searchers , under pain of incurring the forfeitures in , and by the said laws and statutes , limited and appointed , the same being the forfeiture of the value of the money so carried out of the realm , whereof the discoverer is by the said statutes to have one fourth part in such manner , as in the said statutes is expressed , which we shall take care for their incouragement , shall be duely satisfied accordingly : and we do hereby further require , and strictly charge and command all searchers of his majesties ports in this realm , and all others his majesties officers and ministers to whom it shall appertain , that they and every of them be careful and vigilant in , and about the full and due execution of all and singular the laws , and statutes , now in force in this kingdom , against such as shall export any gold or silver out of this realm , against the purport and tenor of the said statutes , and that they endeavour to bring them to condign punishment for the same , as they tender their duty to his majesty , and will answer the contrary at their utmost peril . given at the council-chamber in dublin the six and twentieth day of iuly , 1675. donegall . arran . blesinton . hen : midensis . r : fitz. gerald r : booth . j : temple . w m gore . theo : jones . w m flower . god save the king . dvblin ; printed by benjamin tooke , printer to the king 's most excellent majesty ; and are to be sold by joseph wilde bookseller in castle-street , 1675. a proposal to make good the coyn of this kingdom without diminishing the species thereof. t. h. 1695 approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43319 wing h144 estc r216502 99828229 99828229 32656 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43319) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32656) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1865:19) a proposal to make good the coyn of this kingdom without diminishing the species thereof. t. h. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london? : 1695] imprint suggested by wing. reproduction of the original in the goldsmiths' library, university of london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money -england -early works to 1800. lotteries -england -early works to 1800. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-06 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a proposal to make good the coyn of this kingdom , without diminishing the species thereof . whereas the great difficulty that appears in bringing this matter to bare , proceeds from the consideration , that the calling in all the clipt money , ( being so general ) will occasion a great stop in trade , the market thereby not able to be supply'd , besides the many further inconveniences that may naturally arise : yet the necessity for our moneys to be regulated is such , that it were much more eligible to be subject to the hazard of such mischiefs , than not put a stop to that growing evil : both which to prevent , it 's humbly proposed as an expedient to render it easy and practicable , as followeth : that a fund ( being made for a lottery of a million , or more , if thought fit , to be advanced by such persons only as shall purchase their interest by bringing in plate ; forthwith to be coined before the clipt money be called in ) would certainly answer in lieu of ballion , to give an immediate supply to the market , keep our money circulating , and remove all objections . the quantity of the superfluous plate in this kingdom is so considerable . which , together with the useless plate in publick houses , being prohibited , it 's not to be doubted , but one million , at least , would be soon advanced . especially when we consider the price that plate now bares , and how desirous the people are of coming into another lottery , as plainly appears by the prizes and blanks in the million adventure , when once past the hopes of another lottery , this sessions advanc'd from six years purchase to seven and an half . the way and method for all such persons as intend to be proprietors in this adventure is propos'd , that they carry their plate to the mint , there to receive tickets according to the value , accounting so many ounces as shall be proportioned to a ticket , and for every odd sum that shall happen over and above , to receive a note for the same , payable at a certain time , after coming . but if if it shall be thought fit to have such plate brought into the bank , on the same conditions as above , thence to be transmitted to the mint , to return in coin ; the mint will be greatly eas'd , considering the work upon their hands , and the money made much more defusive . for the bank thereby being enabled to answer the defficiency of the mint , all persons of worth and credit , that shall bring their money to be coin'd , will readily take notes upon the bank , for what shall fall short , which being for their ease ; and having a free credit , the million in specie will remain in the bank to supply the poorer sort of people , that can afford no credit , having no more than bare subsistance . so consequently , the bank will supply the mint , and the mint be able to supply the bank before occasion : therefore no possibility of stoppage in commerce , or want of current money . by these means , not only the present occasion is answered , by facilitating the coynage of all the clipt money , but a million in specie is created more ; without which , it 's directly linking a million from what was in the nation before , which is conceiv'd can hardly be spared at this time . the proposer craves leave further to observe , that considering the honourable the house of commons has so far proceeded in relation to the regulating this intollerable abuse , if not effectually rem●dy'd this sessions , it has given such an alarum , that , before the next sessions , it will be , in a mann●●i●●●ssible to preserve any one piece of money , that is now of good value , from receiving the same injury : and how far this will add to the misfortune of the nation , is humbly submitted to their great wisdom . by t. h. the nature, nobility, character, and complement of money t. j. 1684 approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46608 wing j41 estc r37003 16180728 ocm 16180728 104995 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46608) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104995) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1595:85) the nature, nobility, character, and complement of money t. j. 1 broadside. printed for william thackeray ..., london : mdclxxxiv [1684] in verse. signed at end: t.j. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -poetry. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-06 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the nature , nobility , character , and complement of money . nam genus & formam regina pecunia donat . in this word [ money ] more is comprehended than ever tongue declar'd , or pea commended : it governs all the land , circles the sea , and is the worldling's primum mobile . money hath such an influence on men , it sets up kings , and plucks'em down again . money ! it is the crown of all events ; it doth compound for all impediments ; it is a spell that doth all spirits raise ; honour , health , power , pleasure , profit , praise . quaery . but will it buy content ? or can it cure a cancerous conscience ? ( answ . ) nothing hits more sure . for you shall read in many a roman story , money can free the soul from purgatory : it makes the pope infallible to be ; because'tis more infallible than he . for money , men are in t ' all hazzards hurld , 't is the adored idol of the world. though one sect damn another , yet , in fine , they 'r all devota's at pecunia's shrine : albeit in arguments they rant and tear , plot and confound , they 'r all of one mind there . the simple-seeming quaker that will shun-ye in points of holiness , will take thy money . the scripture pedlers that do prate and cant , and cry the laurd , money 's the meaning on 't : amongst some sects which different tenents hold , the gospel is but a new name for gold ; and sacred offices are often sold for secular silver . as , in dayes of old , all plenty was compriz'd in milk and honey ; so in these dayes all merit lies in money . it is and doth all things in every cause ; it gives new meanings unto old made laws . nothing but money can do and undo : 't is pro and con , and moderator too . if this thing money were not all in all , how could the sciences be liberal ? it doth maintain the court , the camp , the school ; the greatest politician's but a fool , if he want money : 't is so bright , so sunny , that men sell houses , lands , and towns , for money . down kirk , down state , down every thing must fall , rather than want interest and principal . money doth comprehend lawyers and laws ; it is a chancellor in every cause . meum and tuum are the bounds of right ; yet for all this meum and tuum fight : though meum have the milk , tuum the honey ; yet tuum will fall out for meum's money . it rules both right and wrong . what makes this stir betwixt the french , dutch , and the emperor , but money , or what money doth bring forth , navyes and nations ? 't is all money 's worth : money is sovereign of sea and shore ; it doth at once , both make and heal the sore ; it bids defiance to all shapes of slaughter at sea , it makes men run through fire and water , soar to the sun , and sink to the sea's center , dare death in all his glories , so the venter doth produce money , though but one small ray ; a souldier will do this for a month's pay . when money her allicient look extends , some men will truck for fathers , brothers , friends , which makes me pray , the king may keep his hold : his father was the price of gadly gold ; and his king too , though of celestial birth : 't was money bought the king of heaven and earth ; and that same fatal money made the elf , that treacherous treasurer , to sell himself eternally , where money 's influence is of no power to buy him back from thence . money doth all things else ; 't were , of the two , shorter to say what money cannot do , than what it can ; our priviledges , laws , religion , reformation , good old cause , are all but words for money ; it doth teach the courtier how to flatter , priests to preach , souldier to swear , and citizen to lye , and is the vital blood of soveraignty . it makes the aged young , the crooked streight , the dwarf a giant , the fool fortunate . to close up all , ( for i but briesly shew 'em ) it is fitter for a volume than a poem . i 'le leave this theme to those that better know it , money 's too great a stranger to a poet. t. j. london , printed for william thackeray at the angel in duck-lane mdclxxxiv . act anent the inbringing of money scotland. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a11663 of text s969 in the english short title catalog (stc 21910.5). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a11663 stc 21910.5 estc s969 23107196 ocm 23107196 26245 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a11663) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 26245) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1781:4) act anent the inbringing of money scotland. 1 broadside. by iames bryson, printed at edinburgh : 1640. imperfect: creased and torn with slight loss of print. reproduction of original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. eng money -law and legislation -scotland. scotland -history -charles i, 1625-1649. a11663 s969 (stc 21910.5). civilwar no act anent the inbringing of money. scotland 1640 1142 28 0 0 0 0 0 245 f the rate of 245 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2007-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-08 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion act anent the in bringing of money . at edinbvrgh 〈◊〉 fifteenth day of iuly16●● yeares : these of the committee 〈…〉 , poynding , and caption be execute against collectours ▪ valuers , and others who doeth not their duetie or make payment of their tenth part in manner after specified , viz. 2. against the collectours for not making compt , ●eakoning , and payment of what they have received , and giveth not in the names and roll of these who have not payed . 3. against the valuers for not valuing , conforme to the said act of parliament which is either upon the valuers oathes , or upon the heri●ours oathes , or upon the heritours declaration , under their hands , with certification : what they conceale shall be confiscat ; and for not delivery of the saids valuations . 4. against the not payers of the said tenth part , by apprehending their persons , poynding their owne proper goods , or poynding their ground . 5. and because after all ordinarie meanes are used , to make men pay what is due , yet such is the unwillingnesse and delaying of some , to the evil example of others , that money cometh not in to serve the present time . therefore it is thought fit for maintenance of the armie presently on foote , for preservation of the religion , and liberties of this kingdome : that all those who have any moneys , and shall len the same for the publick use in maner after specified , viz. these within the shyrefdome of edinburgh , hadingtoun , and linlithgow , within foure dayes after intimation : these of the shyrefdome of aire , stirling , lanerke , renfrew , fyffe , angus , perth , bervicke , roxburgh , peibles , and selkirke , within six dayes after intimation made thereof . and siclike , these of the shyrefdome of aberdene , bamfe , murray , and innernesse , within ten dayes after intimation : such money as shall be so lent , shall be free of any common burthen , by detention of any part of their annuelrent , but shall have their full annuelrent free of any burthen or detention . 6. secondly , they shall have full annuelrent from the lenning thereof , as the same shal● bee received within the said spaces respective forsaid to the terme of vvhitsonday nexto-come as for a whole yeare , notwithst●●ding a good part of the terme is past . 7. thirdly , they shall have such securitie , as they shall please , designe , or crave themse●ves ; so that what persons they shall crave to bind for what summe they len , shall give their personall bands for the same : and these persons who shall bind to them , shall have the whole presbyterie or shyre bound for their reliefe : and the presbyterie or shyre shall have the estate bound to relieve or repay them . 8. and siclike , if it be tryed that any have moneys , and will not len the same ; it is ordained that the act of parliament bee put to execution against them , especially in that point : that all these who can bee tryed to have money , and will not len the same as said is : the delatours and finders out , to have the one halfe , and the other halfe to be confiscat for the publicke . 9. and sicklike , it is appointed , that all the silver-worke , and gold-worke in scotland , as well to burgh as land wart , as well pertaining to noble-men , barrons , and burgesses , as others of whatsoever degree and quali●●e they be of , be given in to the committee at edinburgh , or these they shall appoint to receive the same upon such securitie for rep●yment as the said committee and they shall agree at the prices following . and for this effect , the committee of war within each s●yrefdome , and the magistrats within burgh , with concurrence of the ministerie ( who must exhort and give warning out of the pu●pits to the paroshioners ) are appointed to call before them any such persons as hath any silver or gold work , that inventar may ●e made of the weight & spaces thereof , and securitie given for the same , with declaration alwayes . like as it is hereby declare● , that these who have any silver or gold worke , which they crave rather to keepe for their owne use , than deliver the same ●o be coyned , shall have power to redeeme the same at the prices following , viz. fiftie six shillings for the unce of scots silve● worke , fiftie eight shillings for everie unce of english silver worke ; and thirtie foure pounds six shillings eight pennies for ●very unce of gold : the same beeing either produced before the committee at edinburgh , or before the committee of war in each s●yrefdome , or before the magistrates of every burgh , and inventar made thereof , or else declared by the parties under their hands , and money presently payed at the rates and prices foresaid ; for the which money securitie shall bee given for repayment thereof , a●d free of any burthen , as said is . and incase any hath double gilt worke , or curious wrought worke , and can not get m●ney to redeeme them , it is hereby declared , that the said gilt and curious worke beeing delivered to the said committee , shall ●ot be melted , or disponed upon before the terme of vvhitsonday next : betwixt and which time the owner thereof shall have po●er to redeeme the same at the prices foresaid , hee paying alwayes the annuelrent thereof , so long as the same shall lye unredeem●● . and the said silver or gold worke to be all given in , either to the committee of estate , or to the committee of warre within each ●hyrefdome , or presbyterie , or to the magistrates of each burgh , within eight dayes after intimation shall bee made thereof , ●●●her at the severall market crosses , or by towke of drum , or by advertisement from the ministers out of the pulpits : with certi●●cation , that these who shall not give in or redeemed the said silver 〈◊〉 gilt worke , within the said space , the same shall bee con 〈…〉 i 〈…〉 nt for the publicke use . printed at edinburgh by iames bryson , 1640. an explanation of the proposal lately given in to the honourable house of commons, signed william james. it is humbly proposed that guineas, and all other gold coins now currant, be brought into the exchequer ... james, william, fl. 1689-1695. 1696 approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a46637 wing j440 estc r216478 99828209 99828209 32636 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a46637) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 32636) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1926:28) an explanation of the proposal lately given in to the honourable house of commons, signed william james. it is humbly proposed that guineas, and all other gold coins now currant, be brought into the exchequer ... james, william, fl. 1689-1695. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london? : 1696] attributed to william james himself by wing. title includes opening words of text. date and place of publication from wing. endorsed on verso: coin and supply. reproduction of the original in the goldsmith's company library, university of london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money supply -england -early works to 1800. bank notes -england -early works to 1800. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an explanation of the proposal lately given in to the honourable house of commons , signsed william james . it is humbly proposed that guineas , and all other gold coins now currant , be brought into the exchequer , or other places as shall be appointed by a prefixt time ; the guineas at 30 sh . a piece , and all other gold proportionably ; and at the same time to be set at 22 sh . or lower , as the house shall think sit . and for every hundred guineas brought into the exchequer , or other places appointed , the party who brings in the hundred guineas shall then receive fifty guineas back at 22 sh . &c. and a tally or bill for a hundred pound silver , and so in proportion for a greater or lesser sum , which tally or bill shall be sunk by five pound per cent. per. ann. till the whole hundred pound tally or bill be discharged : and in case of failure in not paying the five pound per cent. due on the said tally or bill at the time prefixt , the said tally or bill to be void . but on the payment of the money yearly due by the said tally or bill , a new tally or bill shall be given for the remaining sum till the whole be discharged ; and these tallies or bills to be currant in all payments to both king and people . that all the clipp'd money good and bad be brought into the exchequer or other places as shall be appointed ; and for every hundred pound , or more or less sum brought in , the party brioging it in shall receive the moiety of new coined silver or gold , as setled above ; and , at the same time , a tally or bill for the other moiety , which shall be sunk by five pound per cent. per ann. paid as above , &c. till the whole tally or bill be discharged . now when the new silver money is coined at the old standard , as the house have already resolved ; then the guineas will not be worth full 22 sh . so that whoever brings into the exchequer or other place appointed , a hundred guineas , will save eight shillings or more in each guinea . and whoever brings in a hundred pound in base money , and receives fifty pound in gold or good silver , as here proposed , receives much more than the intrinsick value he brings in . and whoever brings in a hundred pound in close clipp'd good money , and receives fifty pounds in gold or good silver , receives the full value of what he brings , besides his tally , or bill for the other half . and this loss falls upon the king. so that to repair this loss , the 5 l. per cent. per annum , is paid into the exchequer to reimburse the king ; and if that be thought too much the parliament may set it lower , and bring it as near a ballance as they please . and it is much more reasonable , this disease that has been upwards of twenty years growing , and is now become almost insupportable , and will in a very little time stop all commerce , should be cured by a twenty years remedy , which will be less felt , than that the nation should now ( when there is at least six millions to be raised to carry on the war , &c. ) bear this burthen all at once . to reduce this into practice . a proclamation be set out for all persons on a certain day to bring their gold and silver to be exchanged , to persons appointed in every parish for that purpose . the whole work may be done in two or three days . the gold paying for the silver as far as it will go , and notes given for the overplus , to be turned into tallies or bills in a very short time after . to prevent the counterfeiting of tallies , it is propofed , that a piece of feal'd or stampt parchment go along with every tally or bill , which upon every transfer , each person sets his name and place of abode . if it be thought , that these tallies or bills be thrust upon the king and people in payments , and so in the mean while all the coin will be carried out of the kingdom ; it may be provided in all payments where tallies are given , there shall be the like sum paid in money . if this proposal be rejected , it may be considered what an intollerable loss will follow by the fall of the gold , and the loss by the much clipt good money , and the base money , which cannot be computed to so little as three millions ; but if it be accepted , it immediately revives commerce , increases the cash of the nation , fettles the minds of the people , that are now in a great ferment , which is like to be greater if not speedily prevented . all which is humbly submitted to the wisdom of the honourable house of commons . proposals humbly offered to the honourable house of commons first, for a way, or method, to procure bullion. secondly, that his majesty, and subject, will be gainers thereby. thirdly, that it will highly tend to the good of trade, and commerce in general, during the time the moneys shall be re-coining. which are as follows, (viz) r. b. 1696 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a27258 wing b169 estc r219345 99830823 99830823 35277 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27258) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 35277) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2047:5) proposals humbly offered to the honourable house of commons first, for a way, or method, to procure bullion. secondly, that his majesty, and subject, will be gainers thereby. thirdly, that it will highly tend to the good of trade, and commerce in general, during the time the moneys shall be re-coining. which are as follows, (viz) r. b. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1696] imprint from wing. signed at end: r.b. reproduction of the original in the university of london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money -england -early works to 1800. 2008-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-08 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion proposals humbly offered to the honourable house of commons , first , for a way , or method , to procure bullion . secondly , that his majesty , and subject , will be gainers thereby . thirdly , that it will highly tend to the good of trade , and commerce in general , during the time the moneys shall be re-coining . which are as follow , ( viz ) it is humbly proposed , that , towards regulating , and making a new coin , silver be reduced , and brought to five shillings per ounce : and by way of encouragement to the subject , for bringing in their plate to be coined ; which i humbly conceive the only way to procure a speedy supply of bullion at this necessitous juncture . the government , by way of encouragement , allowing ten pounds interest , for eighteen months , for one hundred pounds value of plate , to be brought in to be coined ; and so in proportion for a greater , or lesser sum ; and his majesty to have the use of the money , as the same shall be coined ; which may ( in a great measure ) be compleated in six months , and will bring a speedy supply , by making daily payments , so soon as the said money shall be coined ; which money will circulate amongst the subject , and , at the same time , answer his majesty's present occasions . and by way of further encouragement to those , who shall bring in their plate , at the time of weighing , and delivering the same , in order to be coined , there may be bills , or notes , advanced by the government ; with the aforesaid interest allowed into the same : and the bills , or notes , ( so advanced , being stamp't or marked , to prevent frauds , or counterfiting the same ) be made , to pass from man to man , in any payment whatsoever , which said notes , or bills , will supply the use of money , by settling a fund for that purpose , as a security for the same ; and support , and carry on trade , until such time as the said eighteen months shall be expired , by which time , there may be coin sufficient to discharge the said bills , or notes , otherwise , they may be continued for a longer time , as to your great wisdoms shall seem meet . and the better to enable his majesty to pay the aforesaid interest , with submission to this honourable house , ( i humbly conceive ) there may be two shillings per pound discounted out of the value of coin , by lessening it six pence in every five shillings ; which amounts to ten pounds per cent , and will answer the interest of the ten pounds per cent allowed to those persons , who shall bring in their plate so to be coined ; and not only discharge the aforesaid interest so allowed , but ( as i humbly presume ) will be a great , and the only means to keep our money at home : which , should coin be made of the full value with bullion , in case of a rise of bullion , it will be in danger of being melted , or carried abroad to supply a dearer market : and , upon the aforesaid considerations , 't is to be hop'd , all people will readily bring in their plate ; which did not cost them above five shillings per ounce , besides the making , they having the present advantage of using their moneys , and receiving such large interest for the same ; which would otherwise remain in their hands as a dead stock and charge . it is supposed , by most people , that the value of plate , in this kingdom , exceeds that of our coin ; and considering the great numbers of silver tankards , and other plate , in all taverns , victualling-houses , and publick houses of all sorts , there may be a sufficient supply from thence ( without having regard to greater quantities in private houses ) to coin several millions , when so brought in ; besides what will be brought in by private houses , under the encouragements for that purpose . and publick houses are very sensible their plate is of great disadvantage to them , in many kinds , being glad to embrace such an opportunity as this may be , [ if approved on by this honourable house ] to dispose of the same under such advantages , and for the preventing such mischiefs as they have often met with . but should an unwillingness appear in some persons , after all the encouragements before premised , to bring in their plate , ( i humbly conceive ) a duty , or tax , may be laid upon all persons , as to this honourable house shall seem convenient , thereby to obliege them to the same ; goldsmiths and traders excepted , for the supply of their shops and trades : and the said goldsmiths and traders to be limited from buying , or melting down any old plate , for the space of eighteen months ; which will invite all other persons to bring in their plate , to be coined for the use of the government . and the duty , or tax , so laid upon those who shall not bring in their plate , 't will be a help to repair the loss , sustained by clipped and adulterated money . r. b. a proclamation appointing some forraigne species of gold and silver to be current scotland. privy council. 1677 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b05541 wing s1705 estc r225702 53981577 ocm 53981577 180364 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b05541) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 180364) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2826:52) a proclamation appointing some forraigne species of gold and silver to be current scotland. privy council. scotland. sovereign (1649-1685 : charles ii) 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed by the heir of andrew anderson, printer to his most sacred majesty, edinburgh : anno dom. 1677. caption title. royal arms at head of text; initial letter. dated: given under our signet at edinburgh, the twenty seventh day of february, and of our reign the twenty ninth year, 1677. signed: al. gibson, cl. sti. concilii. imperfect: creased with slight loss of text. reproduction of the original in the national library of scotland. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money supply -scotland -early works to 1800. money -law and legislation -scotland -early works to 1800. finance, public -law and legislation -scotland -early works to 1800. scotland -politics and government -1660-1688 -sources. broadsides -scotland -17th century. 2008-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-08 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion c r honi soit qvi mal y pense royal blazon or coat of arms a proclamation appointing some forraigne species of gold and silver to be current . charles by the grace of god , king of great britain , france , and ireland , defender of the faith , to our lyon king at arms , and his brethren heraulds , macers , pursevants , and messengers at arms , our sheriffs in that part , conjunctly , and severally , specially constitute , greeting ; forasmuch as the lords of our privy council , having taken to their consideration a petition presented by the provost of edinburgh , in name , and by warrand of the royall burrowes of this kingdom , representing , as one of the great causes of the decay of commerce amongst all qualities of people of this kingdom , and the deadness of the forraign and inland trade thereof , to be the great scarcity of the stock of coyn , and of all manner of species of money in this kingdom , that does much incommodate all manner of dealers , who are necessitate to deal upon credit , wanting the supplies of species of money to maintain the same : which scarcity having been occasioned by the small quantities of silver that used to be coyned formerly in our mint , before our late happy restauration , and the frequent exportation even of the saids small quantities into forraign parts ; and having remitted the consideration of the foresaid petition to a commitee of their number , for preparing the said matter , impowering them to confer with the officers of our mint , and these of the burrowes who were intrusted with the said petition , and to take exact tryal of the fineness of forraign coin both of gold and silver ; who having accordingly conferred with these of the saids burrowes , and officers of our mint , and having seen exact tryal taken of the intrinsick finenesse and value of several sorts of forraign coyn , by the subtile essay taken in their presence , did make report , that the spanish and dutch duccatoon , the spanish milrynd and french crown , are much finer than other forraign coyn now presently currant in this kingdom . w e therefore , being unwilling to restrain the forraign coynes presently currant , while our proper coyn of this kingdom is so small , and so much exported because of its fineness ; and finding it the better way to keep out course forraign coyn , by allowing the said finer forraign coyn to be currant : and considering , that the foresaids species of money are the coyn of these places with which this kingdom hath most considerable trade , and will be a great mean to inable merchants to return money for the export of this kingdom : whereas if the coyn of these places be not currant here , their ships must return light , or loaden with forraign commodities of lesse use for this kingdom , to ballance their whole expert : have thought fit , with advice of our privy council , to declare and ordain , and by the tenour hereof do declare and ordain , that the particular species of forraign coyn , above and after mentioned , shal have course within this kingdom at the rates following , viz. the spanish and dutch duccatoon to passe currant amongst all our subjects , for three pounds ten shillings scots : the spanish milrynd , for two pounds seventeen shillings scots : and the french crown for two pounds sixteen shillings . and also we considering , that there hath been an surcease , and long time since the coyning of any gold in this kingdom , and that the species of all old gold is transported , and little forraign gold imported ; and for the further incouragement of the merchants in this kingdom , concerned in the spanish and dutch trades , to make the returns of their yearly export and effects in such species of gold coynes as these countreys do afford ; do hereby also , with advice foresaid , ordain , and declare , the quadruple spanish pistol , or piece of eight of gold , to have course amongst our subjects of this kingdom , at the rate of fourty two pounds scots the piece , the same being of usual weight , of twenty one deniers : and also the smaller species of the said gold pistol down-ward , to pass at the saids rates proportionally : as likewise , the hungary , dutch , and fleemish duccat of gold weighing two deniers , fifteen grains , to passe , and have course for five pounds twelve shillings scots , the same being of the said weight . and to the effect all our leiges may have notice hereof , our will is , and we charge you strictly , and command , that incontinent these our letters seen , ye pass to the mercat-cross of edinburgh , and other places needful , and thereat , in our name and authority , by open proclamation , make publication of the premisses . given under our signet , at edinburgh , the twenty seventh day of february , and of our reign the twenty ninth year , 1677. per actum dominorum secreti concilii . al. gibson . cl. s ti . concilii . god save the king. edinburgh , printed by the heir of andrew anderson , printer to his most sacred majesty , anno dom. 1677. his majesties order for taking off the chimney-money, in his gracious message to the parliament, for the ease of his loving subjects. with some observations thereupon england and wales. sovereign (1689-1694 : william and mary) 1689 approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a96558 wing w2427 estc r231959 99897100 99897100 137300 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a96558) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 137300) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2468:21) his majesties order for taking off the chimney-money, in his gracious message to the parliament, for the ease of his loving subjects. with some observations thereupon england and wales. sovereign (1689-1694 : william and mary) william iii, king of england, 1650-1702. 1 sheet ([1] p.) printed by george larkin, at the two swans without bishopgate, london : 1689. printed in two columns. reproduction of original in the bodleian library, oxford, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england -early works to 1800. great britain -history -william and mary, 1689-1702 -early works to 1800. great britain -politics and government -1689-1702 -early works to 1800. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 jason colman sampled and proofread 2007-08 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion his majesties order for taking off the chimney-money , in his gracious message to the parliament , for the ease of his loving subjects . with some observations thereupon . as the almighty by so wonderful a series of success , has placed our present soveraign on the throne , so he has singled out for that sacred trust , and the reception of those wonderous providences , the person ( if man can merit from heaven ) the most deserving of them . a most peculiar instance of royal grace perhaps was never more conspicuous , then in his late message to the parliament . friday march the first . 88. mr. wh●rton delivered a message from the king viz. that his majesty found the act for chimney-money , was grievous to the subject , and therefore left it to the consideration of his parliament to take off the same , &c. in answer to which , was made an address to the effect following . we your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects , the knights , citizens , and burgesses in parliament 〈…〉 , 〈…〉 taken into consideration your majesty's gracious message , wherein your majesty is pleased to express your great kindness and sense of your peoples condition , by your tender consideration , that the revenue of the hearth-money is very grievous , and are pleased to agree either to the regulation of it , or taking it wholly away . and as your majesty is pleased in this , to consider the ease of your people , we acknowledge our selves obliged to declare that your majesty has fill'd our hearts with an entire satisfaction and gratitude , by this your most gracious and vnprecedented offer . and we humbly crave leave to present this assurance to your majesty , that we will make such grateful and affectionate returns , and be so careful for the support of the crown , that the world may see , to the discouraging of your enemies , and the satisfaction of all good men , that your majesty reigns in the hearts of your people , which god grant long to continue . how infinitely does this glorious goodness and condescention to his people outshine his predecessors ! to instance no farther back then the two last reigns , time has been when the national eas● has been so little the consideration of the crown , that our very meeting of parliaments have dwindled into little other use , than , give us more of your money , and less of your counsels ; and scarce one good act for the benefit of the subject obtain'd without the tacking of a money-bill at the end of it . nay , and when the english purses would not drain fast enough , we have wretchedly truck'd to france to help out the count . but not to rake into the ashes of one , or the misfortune of the other , what between the effeminacy of one reign , and the bigotry of the other , what unaccountable summs , and as unaccountably consumed , have been expended , and preverted directly contrary to the intent of the original donation , the great end they were given for ? but this long soveraign fault amended , ( not to mention all the other long blemishes in the imperial scutcheon , washt off in the person of our present truly gracious king , ) as vast a revenue as the chimney-money may be , yet considering the iniquity and partiality of it , together with the cryes against it , ( for never so uneven a tax was formed . ) he considers the delight of disburthening his people above the gratification of filling his exchequer : and as weighty a crown jewel as it is , he thinks his diadem ( on that only store ) shines brighter , though not richer , without it . and undoubtedly this one unprecedented act of royal grace , attended with all the circumstances of such a voluntary tender , ( even singly and separate from that unbounded goodness , and those accumulated glories we have so large a future prospect of , from so promising a reign , ) is sufficient of it self alone to stand a regal monument . and now my friends and neighbours , after a hearty farewel to your chimney-money , listen to some few comforts in store for you . the poor country wife may now boyl her childs milk , or her husbands gruel , without endangering the consiscation of her skillet or crock , for the use of a chimney to warm it in . the poor labourer , that out of his weeks wages can arrive to a sabbath ▪ days-joint of meat , need not fear the loss of his spit on monday , for eating of roast-meat on sunday ; with the hearty wish too , perhaps at the tail on 't , that the chimney-money-statute-makers were spitted and roasted after it . the furnishing his hearth now , shall not cost him the unrigging of his kitchin. nor shall the great and ( before ) glorious name of a king , be longer debased to so vile and wretched a voice of authority , as the rifling of cottages , and plundering of poverty . the painted staff shall now make no more havock amongst their dishes and platters , with the untuneable comfort of the cries of the poor to make up the harmony ▪ and that original peace-keeper , the constable , ●● vertue of a hard letter'd statute , shall now no more be put to the office of a french ▪ dragoon , in breaking open of doors , and making military execution on the goods and chattels even of indigence and begga●● . those hard-look'd guests the collectors , a sort of visitants as troublesome as a cat in a glass-box , ( thanks to heaven and our good king ) are like to have their reign but short . for that egypt-plague , those house locusts ( god and great william be prais●● ) are now departing your dwelling● ; and you and your race for the future may live in hopes of making your fires burn clear , without melting down your porridge-pots into the bargain . a long and everlasting a●ien to that crown grind-stone , the hearth-statute . the face of the poor shall now be ground no more . and so god save king william and queen mary . london , printed by george larkin , at the two s●ans without bishopsgate . 1689. 'tis money makes a man: or, the good-fellows folly. here in this song good fellow that mayst find, how money makes a man, if thou'rt not blind? therefore return e're that it be too late, and don't on strumpets spend thy whole estate, for when all is gone, no better thou wilt be: but laught to scorn in all thy poverty. to a pleasant new tune: bonny black bess: or, digby. / by j. wade. wade, john, fl. 1660-1680. 1674-1679? approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b06565 wing w173 interim tract supplement guide ebb65h[32] 99887239 ocm99887239 181949 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b06565) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 181949) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books; tract supplement ; a2:4[32]) 'tis money makes a man: or, the good-fellows folly. here in this song good fellow that mayst find, how money makes a man, if thou'rt not blind? therefore return e're that it be too late, and don't on strumpets spend thy whole estate, for when all is gone, no better thou wilt be: but laught to scorn in all thy poverty. to a pleasant new tune: bonny black bess: or, digby. / by j. wade. wade, john, fl. 1660-1680. 1 sheet ([1] p.) : ill. (woodcuts). printed for f[rancis]. coles, t[homas]. vere, j[ohn]. wright, j[ohn]. clarke, [london] : [between 1674-1679] verse: "oh what a madness 'tis to borrow or lend ..." date, place of publication and publishers' names from wing. reproduction of original in the harvard university, houghton library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng broadsides -england -london -early works to 1800. money -poetry -early works to 1800. ballads -england -17th century. 2008-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-06 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion 't is money makes a man : or , the good-fellows folly. here in this song good-fellow thou mayst find , how money makes a man , if thou' rt not blind ? therefore return e're that it be too late , and don 't on strumpets spend thy whole estate , for when all is gone , no better thou wilt be : but laught to scorn in all thy poverty . to a pleasant new tune : bonny black bess : or , digby . by j. wade . oo what a madness 't is to borrow or lend , or for strong liquor thy money to spend ; for when that is wanting thy courage to cool , thou most sta●d cap in hand to every fool : but if thy pock●ts can sing & they will take thy word oh then thou art company for knight or yet lord : then make much of a penny as near as you can , for if that be wanting thou' rt counted no man. then listen a while and i 'le tell you in brief , the most of my sorrow , my care , and my grief ; i had an estate i le make it appear , besides all my stock , was worth fifty a year : but so soon as i to drinking then fell , my land i then morgaged , my cattle did sell ; no sooner the money i for them had took , but it went to the ale-house i 'le swear on a book . thus in a short time my money did waste , and i found my self not a pin better at last ; whilst other tradesmen were working full hard , i f●om an ale-house could not be debar'd : there would i sit tipling day after day , and my wife she unto me full often would say , make much of a penny as near as you can , for if that be wanting thou'lt be counted no man. but the words that she spoke i 'd regard not a straw but would kick her , & beat her , & kéep her in awe ; my children at home might eat the bare wall , whilst i in an ale-house for strong liquor did call : and my hostis forsooth must needs sit on my knée though my wife she hath twice more beauty then she yet that would not please my letcherous mind , because for my money my hostis was kind . but in the conclusion here comes all my care , my back it grew thin , and my pockets grew bare ; then i told my hostis my pittiful tale , in hopes that my sorrows she would be wail : but she turn'd up her nose , and she looked a squoy , you might have been wiser she straight did reply ; this was all the comfort that i got from she , that always pretended my friend for to be . therefore all young-men that loves the ale-bench some counsel i 'le give them before they go hence ; if thou sit'st day and night , & drink'st never so fast yet thou'lt find thy own home is the best at last ; it is but for your money they wait you upon , and when that is wanting you'r lightly look't on ; if she sees but two-pence you run on the score , she 'l swear by her troth she will trust you no more ●hen have a care young-men , be ruled in time , lest drink overcome thee , in old days you pine ; for you see good-fellows how thread-bare they go and what good-husbandry brings a man to ; for some lives most bravely tho means they have small , and some that has hundreds do quickly spend all ; then make much of a penny as near as you can , for if that be wanting thou' rt counted no man. 't is money you see makes a lord , or yet ea●l , 't is money you see that sets out a young girl ; likewise 't is money makes the lawyer to prate , & t is money doth make the man love his wife kate and 't is money bréeds love where never was none , although she be old , yet money makes her young : a knight or a begger , whatever they be if they have but money they 'r welcome to me . thus money you see , and do well understand , if a poor man can but get it , he buys house and land but it must not be those that works hard all day , and at night in an ale-house doth throw it away . nay , that will not serve , but twice as much more , if his word it will pass , he runs on the score ; then all the week after , though then he don't ●eed he wanteth bread-corn his poor children to feed , therefore he advised boon companions all , for you see the worlds so they laugh at a mans fall with speed your old haunts pray begin for to shun , take warning by others the which are undone : you 'l say a good fellow it is a brave name , but many a man doth pay dear for the same : the which hath all spent , now in goal he doth lye , and none will relieve him in his poverty . but some men have got such a spark in their throat that i would not be him that should quench't for a groat ; all the fair words his wife can him give , yet he 'l not be ruled though poor he doth live : hang money he c●ys , till all ●●'t is gone ; as for house ●nd land i mean to buy none ; i must see my hostis to go neat and fine , although that my family doth starve and pine . and thus have i told you the conditions of some , that all long of strong liquor will never keep home his stock it d●cays , although his wife cries , and in the conclusion a begger he dies : but a good husband's means you see doth increase he maintains his houshold in joy and in peace ; then make much of a penny as near as you can , for if that be wanting , thou 'lt be counted no man finis . with allowance , ro. l'estrange . printed for f. coles , t. vere , j. wright , and j. clarke . the citizens complaint for want of trade, or the trades-mans outcry for lack of money by g. m. g. m., fl. 1663. 1663 approx. 11 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a51042 wing m23 estc r219295 99830785 99830785 35239 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a51042) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 35239) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2092:26) the citizens complaint for want of trade, or the trades-mans outcry for lack of money by g. m. g. m., fl. 1663. 8 p. [s.n.], london : printed in the year, 1663. in verse. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england -early works to 1800. 2007-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-02 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the citizens complaint for want of trade , or the trades-mans outcry for lack of money . by g. m. being the poor distressed tradesman's cry , down with all sects ; but up with loyalty : making it to appear in these his rhimes , that 't is bad men alone that make bad times . london , printed in the year , 1663. thos. jolley esq. r f. s. a. blazon or coat of arms the citizens complaint for want of trade . room for a tradeseman ; let him tread the stage with these his rhimes in this declining age : what though no player ; yet , i think , as free to speak his mind as any players be : room then , i say , for him who does intend to speak of that which once , perhaps , may mend ; and that 's the times ; for never were they worse , as by experience knows my empty purse . trading is dead , is every mans complaint ; the shop keepers themselves begin to faint for want of trade ; and as for my own part , the ●●nt thereof doth pierce my very heart : m●●…e's my life ; for what i got thereby wo●●● once maintain my self and family ; 〈…〉 alas , the times are grown so dead , that by my trade i scarcely can get bread : and more then that , my wife , the times b'ing bad , 〈…〉 rails ( enough to make one mad ) my children too for cloaths at me do call , and i want money , which is worst of all : my alewives now begin to whet their teeth ; the butcher cries , now pay me for my beef ; the baker swears ; what though the times are dead , he will be paid ; for do you think his bread did cost him nothing ; y'faith if i 'le not do 't , he knows a way whereby to force me to 't : my landlord too , i had almost forgot , who for his rent doth swear hee 'l trust me not : this is my case ; for lodging , drink , and diet , i cannot rest , nor live one hour in quiet : i 'm like a hare , i 'm forc'd to keep my bounds , i dare not stir for fear o th' counter-hounds ; for if they take me , there i 'm sure to lye till i am suck'd to an anatomye : oh cruel times ! thou mak'st me keep my cell , i dare not stir for fear of counter hell : dun upon dun about my doors do lurch , my body to devour ; as for the church , i dare not go to ; for indeed they say , they can arrest me on the sabbath day : dun take 'em all ; i cannot rest at night , the thoughts of them my body doth affright ; sometimes me thinks , within a dream , i see two lusty catch-poles in pursuit of me , which to avoid i make what hast i can , thinking to scape those bugbears unto man ; but yet alas , i could not run so fast , but these two hounds o'retook poor hare at last ; and i , with striving , out of sleep did start , which finding but a dream was glad at heart . thus am i plagu'd both day and night with duns , whose loud reports affr●ght me worse then guns : one calls me rogue ; the next a drunken sot ; another swears i shall i th' counter rot ; then comes a ludgate wolf , who strait doth swear , i ne're should stir could she but catch me there ; ( were i to chuse my prison , it should be either of these , before the marshalsee ; god keep me thence ; the keepers may be well compar'd to devils , and their prison hell. ) these are those cats that daily haunt my house ; i dare not stir ; but like unto a mouse , am forc'd to home ; ( i fear e'm more then death ) and dare not peep lest they arrest my breath : but what am i that thus should stand in fear of you my hostess for your ale and beer ? go hang your selves , i value not your threats , i 'le mak 't appear you are all cursed cheats ; you nick and froth ; besides , unto my score ( each time you view 't ) you adde a penny more : nay more then this , he that will run o th' trust oft drinks the tappings ; which is most unjust : what is 't i owe ? pray tell it to my friend ; you shall be paid when as the times do mend ; had i but money i would pay you all , and rid my self from your accursed thrall : in the mean while i wish you to forbear your thunder-claps ; oh do not curse nor swear at me your debtor ; rather learn to pray your trusting-faith may keep you till i pay ; which when 'twilbe i know not , he that can , pay what he has not is a cunning man : oh cursed money ! the want of thee indeed is the chief cause from whence my woes proceed : money ! what is 't ? oh rare ! that very thing makes some to smile , to some doth sorrow bring : it is a jewel ( though but made of drois ) that 's highly priz'd ; but yet it brings a cross where it is wanting . o that man is blest , in his conceit , that is but full possest of this same coin. can there be greater bliss , then for a man each morn and night to kiss his lovely bags , which are heap'd up with gold , besides whole chests of silver daily told ? 't is some mens god , who only take delight to sit and count their bags from morn till night ; they lov't so well , they scarcely can afford to break one bagge to set upon their board a meal of meat that 's fit to entertain a friend or two ; no , no , they cry their gain is very small ; though oftentimes they take ten in the hunder'd ; they no conscience make of what they do ; i dare be bold to say , they 'd lend the devil , were they but sure he 'd pay them double int'rest ; yet i 'm sure they are th'devils brokers ; though he doth forbear them at the present ; he 'l at last lay hold upon the usurer himself and not his gold ; for he it is that all this while did trade with th'devils stock ; for which there must be made a restitution , which will never be until the usurer the devil see ; then must those bonds be cancelled also , which he priz'd more then soul and body too ; for he that loves his money more then either , the devil and he deserve to live together . others likewise , this jewel fain would have ; but not content , more more they still do crave , still hoarding up , but never will disburse unless it be per force , and then a curse sometimes doth follow , as indeed if they must have all gratis , but yet never pay : nay more then that , one thing i most admire , the hireling too , from such oft wants his hire . others there be , that money love so well , that with the same they 'l neither buy nor sell ; but hoard it up ; this being still their cry , the times are fickle ; but disloyalty makes them afraid ; 't is not the times that make poor trades-mens hearts ( for want of trading ) ake ; no , no , 't is not the times , it is bad men ; which if but good the times would mend agen : these , these , are only saints ; but can there be a perfect saint that has no charitie ? no , no ; 't is not alone the brotherhood can make them saints ; they likewise must do good unto the kingdom ; and they 'r bound by law to love the king ; of him to stand in awe ; which can't be done , unless they do approve of his just laws , submitting to his love ; were this but so , you need not then to fear but trade would mend , and every thing appear in its full lustre ; then the poor would cry , god blesses us because of vnity . money' 's a jewel ; yet there 's few can finde within that jewel a contented minde : money 's a world ; for many men there be in getting it do gain eternitie ; as he that picks a pocket ; do you think that he would venture so , wer 't not for chink ? and he that steals a horse , if once got free , minds not his horse ; he must converted be into this money : others that oft do stand upon the rode , 't is money they demand : murder and treason ; both these grounded be on , so much coin for this thy treacherie : money 's the law ; for he that 's full possest of gold and silver , always fares the best : money 's the judge ; 't is that condems them all , you took so much , and therefore hang you shall : money 's the gallows and the hangman both ; wer 't not for that , sir dun , he would be loth to tye them up ; and had they been content with what they had , they need not now repent for what they did : this money makes some sad . others rejoyce ; and some it makes quite mad : money makes some rich ; some it maketh poor : money makes rogues ; 't is money makes a whore : money makes knaves ; the reason 's very plain ; they'd ne're turn knaves , wer 't not for knavish gain : money makes men fools , ( as daily you may see ) 't is for the same that men jack-puddings be ; are these not fools indeed ? nay , simple elves , that thus for money will transform themselves from men to devils , assuming any shape , and , like to monkies , at you grin and gape ; they get their means by fooling ; yet some say , he that is fool is wisest of the play ; but my weak judgment tells me 't can't be so ; for , who more fool then he that makes him so : money makes a man ; money makes a wife : money breeds content ; want it breedeth strife : money is all things ; what is there in this land , but this thing money has it at command ? 't is money that i want ; for trading it is bad ; 't is for the want thereof that makes my heart so sad ; i think , therefore , my wisest course will be , to seek redress for this my povertie ; which how i know uot ; but , would strife once end , and men turn good ; the times , no doubt , would mend . finis . to the honourable the commons of england assembled in parliament proposals humbly offered to lay down a method which will totally prevent all robberies upon the highway, raise five hundred thousand pounds per annum to the government, and increase dealings of all kinds ... beeckman, daniel. 1695 approx. 16 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a27255 wing b1687 estc r32952 12802347 ocm 12802347 94078 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a27255) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94078) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1518:9) to the honourable the commons of england assembled in parliament proposals humbly offered to lay down a method which will totally prevent all robberies upon the highway, raise five hundred thousand pounds per annum to the government, and increase dealings of all kinds ... beeckman, daniel. 8 p. s.n., [london : 1695] caption title. attributed by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints to beeckman. place and date of publication suggested by wing. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng finance -england. money -england. 2006-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-05 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the honourable the commons of england assembled in parliament . proposals humbly offered to lay down a method which will totally prevent all robberies upon the high-way , raise five hundred thousand pounds per annum to the government , and increase dealings of all kinds . 1. by erecting chambers of accompts in the kingdom , to return money from place to place , as trade shall require . 2. by a computation made of the number of people in england , wales , &c with the consumption of goods transferred from place to place throughout the kingdom . 3. the ways of transmitting moneys , from place to place , on sight of bills , and ballancing of accompts . 4. by wayes and means to furnish those chambers of accompts with cash , sufficient to answer , in ready moneys , all the goods that shall be bought and sold throughout the kingdom . 5. by presuming that the profits , arising from the said chambers , will amount to the sum of 500000 l. per annum ; persons paying no more for such returns than has been customary , time out of mind , on the like occasions . 1. were there four grand chambers of accompts erected in london , ( being the metropolitan city of the kingdom ) to answer all countys in england , wales , &c. and those nominated the principal or grand chambers of each county , or division ; and let them have power to fix a petty chamber in most principal towns of trade , throughout the kingdom , &c. providing for every principal or grand chamber , a different stamp ; with numbers to be kept in every petty chamber , so fixed , ( as aforesaid ) placing clerks , in each chamber of london , distinctly for each county . and were all inland bills strictly forbid , and all gentlemen , and chapmen , carriers , and hagglers , prohibited from travelling with any sum or sums of money ( more than to defray their travelling charges : ) but so often as occasion offers , let each , and every person , pay such greater sums of money into any of the chambers , from whence it may be remitted to any place , as desired , with as great expedition as the general post can reach it : the party having his money so remitted , paying for the same three pence per pound ; or something more or less , according to the distance of place from whence it shall be so remitted . 2. it is supposed ( by common computation ) that there are six millions of people in the kingdom of england , dominion of wales , &c. ( which if so ) they cannot subsist , one with another , for less charge , in meat , drink , and apparel , than seven pounds per annum each person , which amounts to forty two millions yearly expended in the way of trade and commerce ; which at three pence per pound , annually paid for such returns , or transmittances of money , as aforesaid , amounts to the sum of five hundred twenty five thousand pounds per annum , besides the large sums that are expended in a year for houshold goods , plate , jewels , &c. ☞ note , what is consumed in the year must be the gain of trade ; the returns are infinitely more . 3. suppose a merchant , or any other trader , or dealer , sells his goods , cattle , or wares , in any part of the kingdom , &c. receiving his moneys for the same , being the sum of a thousand pounds , more or less ; he or they paying such sum or sums into the chamber next adjoyning , may have it remitted to any part , without running any hazard ; the person receiving the same , discounting three pence per pound , more or less , according to the distance of place : and upon payment of his moneys into the said chamber , he shall receive a bill of return indented ; the office or chamber filing another of the same date ; and a third so agreeing with the two former , shall be sent to the place , where he intends to receive the same , with advice to pay it to the said party , or his order , upon the sight of the party's bill so mentioned , making such payment in good currant coin of england ; and upon payment thereof , to give his receipt , indorsed upon the said bill , for so much moneys , as the said bill expresses to be due : by which means every petty chamber may be able to adjust his accomps with the grand chambers of london , as often as they shall be required to do the same . 4. as to the furnishing the said chambers with cash sufficient to answer such ends , i presume the moneys collected for the king's taxes ; the excise , and other moneys already charged , and to be charged , by act of parliament , with moneys payable for all manner of goods or commodities through the kingdom in parts remote ; being paid into the said chambers , in each town or county , as aforesaid , in order to be remitted to other parts of the kingdom ; may ( as i humbly conceive ) answer the ends proposed , with all objections that shall be made against it ; only allowing petty chapmen , who shall travel the country for some miles , to lay out moneys in order to buy up goods ; as wooll , &c. buying two or three tod in one place , and three or four in another , where they can meet with them : for it is not to be imagined , such chapmen as these : shall have their moneys remitted , by reason of the great uncertainty in what place they shall buy their goods : but my meaning is , that such persons , who bring their goods to a certain town or market , selling them for considerable sums ; and such persons , who shall carry in their moneys to a market or fair to buy with . ( as for example . ) a person living at exeter , or any other place , hearing of a parcel of wooll to be sold at northampton , or any other place cross the country , though far remote ; the said party , paying the moneys he intends to lay out , into the chamber of the town aforesaid , the clerk of that chamber , sending up the advice-indenture , to the proper clerk of the said county , he shall remit the moneys to the chamber of the said town , with as much expedition , as the post can make : and in like manner , may all gentlemens rents , or moneys for portions , and purchases be transmitted throughout the kingdom . for if any person shall adventure to travel with sums of money , after having such conveniencies provided for their so safe and easy ways of remittances , i judge the country ought not to be liable to make good what shall be so lost by robberies after such bold and daring adventures . and they may keep an exact ballance on all occasions , in all places , and at all times throughout the kingdom ; by which means each town may have a bank of money by them , which , ( as i conceive ) will be no small increase of riches throughout the kingdom , causing all manufacturies to flourish much more than hither to they have done , the failure of which is thought to befor want of moneys among them , which has occasioned many country people to try their fortunes in london , where money is more plenty , which hath much depopulated the country , thereby damnifying very much both gentlemens estates , and done great injury to all manufacturies . further , there are several principal towns and places of trade ; as exeter , norwich , colchester , hull , leeds , &c. wherein the goods are bought by the inhabitants of the said places , and there vended ; which moneys , with the kings revenues , being paid into the bank of the said places , must inevitably be equivolent to the manufactures made in the said towns , and vended else-where : for suppose each of those do vend and make great quantities of woollen manufacturies , being the stable commodities of the kingdom , the more they make the better , being the greater number of people must be imployed therein ; and we find by experience , that ( by the wisdom and providence of god ) noblemen , gentlemen , shopkeepers , merchants , &c ▪ are so promiscuously intermixed in towns and villages among handicrafts , being subservient one to another , as different members of one and the same body ; and supposing there are twenty or thirty thousand souls in each town or place ; these must all be fed and cloathed , with all things according to their several ranks and qualities ; and , by consequence , must trade in linnen , woollen , silk , &c , and in all grocery wares , wine , oyl , tobacco , iron , lead , tin , copper , glass , &c. and in all sorts of grain , cattle , fruits , dyes , and druggs , without which , no place can well subsist . now let the traders of the said towns , and villages nigh adjacent , pay into the banks of the said places , all the moneys which shall become due in parts remote , for the goods vended by them : the prime cost of all such goods consumed , together with the money collected for excise , the land tax , and customs , being paid into the next chamber , or bank , in or nigh the place , must make a sufficient fund of money in all the banks of each county , town , or city , to answer all goods and manufactories that shall come out of the countries , being the prime cost of materials are allowed for : but if any merchant or dealer suppose the manufactures made in the countries , and sent abroad , are of greater value than the prime cost of goods , that are bought and consumed in the countrys ; i beg to know how it happens , that such town or county has not gain'd the greatest part of the kingdoms wealth ; which , if any person satisfies me in , i shall look upon all my pains , and serious thoughts , about this project , to be vain imaginations , and shall desist further to urge it . and so soon as the king's money shall be paid into any of the said chambers in the country , it may be drawn off here from the chief chambers in london , at the pleasure of the lords of the treasury : which will occasion the paying in of the kings revenues into the exchequer with more expedition by the sub-collectors , being the first charge laid upon the moneys given his majesty , which will save the government 100000 l. per annum . so much and more being now paid for collecting ; going through so many hands . 5. i humbly conceive it may be highly improved , in like manner as the post-office has been since the first establishment thereof , which will conduce much to the good of trade , both in city and country : for if a. b. or c. suffer for not having returns of money , according to expectation or desire , certainly the greater part of the alphabet must sensibly feel it one way or other . but this method being taken , it must , by consequence , lessen the interest of money , highly advance lands , increase the income of the general post-office ; i presume by modest computation , it will add a third part , more to the incomes of the same . this i humbly conceive ( if approved on by his majesty , and the honourable houses of parliament ) may be worth five hundred thousand pounds , per annum . or more , without hurting the subject ; paying no more for their returns of money , than they commonly now do upon occasion of such returns by carriers , or otherwise . therefore the terms in my propositions being so easy ( and the service of so great value ) i hope no man can rationally grudge at it , obtaining so great a benefit by it ; for i clearly conceive , both city and country will improve and encourage such an establishment , as shall make moneys circulate upon all occasions to their great advantage . and this being proposed for the publick good , i hope it will not be postpon'd , but rather meet with that encouragement from the government , as may render it useful for the matter intended ; which will not only be a great benefit , but also a great honour to the kingdom . and i hope the objections that may be raised against my proposals , are so rationally answered , as with ease to be understood ; relating to the advance of trade ; the improvement of estates ; the safe and quick transmittances of rents ; the benefit accrewing to the post-office : and in removing of the cause , it will most effectually be the preventing of robberies by high-way men. by d. b. by c. l. ☞ note , it is allowed , by most men of deallings , that the consumption of this city , within the weekly bills of mortallity , is vastly great . the number of black cattle consumed per week , computed about three thousand ; calves , sheep , lambs , and hoggs , about thirty thousand ; the value of all sorts of grain not to be known , besides the vast quantities of woollens that are bought from the countreys : from all which , 't is plain , there may be one hundred thousand pounds saved to the government , by drawing off the kings revenues and taxes ; ( as aforesaid ) which will more than defray the charge of such an advantageous settlement , and the kingdom will become as one intire trading body . finis . a modest offer of some meet considerations, tendred to the english about their coyne and trade, and particularly to east india hall, joseph, 1574-1656. 1695 approx. 15 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a45304 wing h396 estc r219932 99831379 99831379 35842 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45304) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 35842) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2049:34) a modest offer of some meet considerations, tendred to the english about their coyne and trade, and particularly to east india hall, joseph, 1574-1656. 1 sheet ([2] p) s.n., [london : anno 1695] imprint from colophon. by joseph hall. reproduction of the original in the university of london, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng east india company -early works to 1800. money -england -early works to 1800. commerce -early works to 1800. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-10 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a modest offer of some meet considerations , tendred to the english about their coyne and trade , and particularly to east india . the ordinary means of encreasing our wealth being foreign trade , managed so that the ballance be for us , not against us ; and the seat of our now war being distant from us , ( which is our happiness ) where we must pay our armies and fleet , we ought to provide that forreigners ( be they friends or foes ) do not get our trade nor our wealth from us . it doth behove us therefore to secure our foreign trade in the first place , by safe guarding and wisely conducting our merchants ships at sea : which may be done if our naval affairs and strength ( our chief and commanding point ) be put into the hands of men of integrity , skill and courage , of sobriety and diligence , and of desire to shorten the war. such men as these we may hope will effect the like qualities in them they do command ; and then from the nature of the thing , and by divine ordination too , we may expect all good success . our armies and fleet may then be paid abroad , because the goods we import being exported again will create bills for us , ( which are not now to be had ) and make the exchange in our favour . the kings customs and our wealth will encrease , and the french being without trade and captures at sea , will the sooner be reduced to extremity . the next thing is our money : not to alter its fineness , weight , nor denomination , but to permit none that is ( lip'd or false to pass in payment , and the good at no higher value than formerly . our mill'd money , as now it is , is not only the common and true measure of our lands , and of all our means in the kingdom , but also of our foreign commerce with strangers ; therefore to alter it would bring us into confusion and loss too : for gold and silver being their product , not ours , when we add to its value , they have the advance of us . this encreases the ballance against us , and we must pay it in gold or silver , not at our valuation , but as the exchange will allow ; which whilst we pay our armies and fleet abroad , will not exceed five shillings our mill'd crown , and twenty shillings the guinea . and if , as some propose , we advance the one to thirty shillings , and the other to six shillings three pence , in payment , we thereby add to spain , &c. 50 per cent. in their gold , and 25 per cent. in their silver , and substract as much from our selves in all our rents , in all our now made contracts , and loans , in all the customs and charges that forreigners pay for goods they import here , and in all we buy here and send abroad to foreign markets , ( in case that strangers do buy the like with us ) and in all that we do remit to discharge the ballance upon us . when gold or silver from abroad comes to pay their debt to us , it is good ; but when to encrease our debt to them , it 's an evil to us : for it must go from us at less value than it came to us we should therefore hasten to extinguish this ballance , or lessen it all we can , by safe guarding at sea our ships in trade , and by sending our own product and manufacture to markets abroad upon equal terms with foreigners who buy them of us ; which cannot be done if we add to the value of our money : what we add they have our manufacture , &c. cheaper than our merchants , and then we lose our trade too . the course of all exchanges in time of peace , or when we are free and safe in foreign trade , doth shew that generally our mint at twenty shillings a guinea , and at five shillings the mil'd crown , is the best market in europe for gold and silver , it will then come to us , and what we now part with for payment of our armies and fleet abroad ( which by the way will be done with one third less if we do not advance our money than if we do ) will return to us in time of peace , and i hope it is not far off , if it be , i am sure , when it comes it will be the better and more lasting with us for this war upon the whole , to advance our crown to six shillings three pence can serve no purpose of ours , is needless , and pernicious , therefore not to be done . but if we do not reduce guineas to 21 s. 6 d , or 22 s. and make our money good to 5 s. the mill'd crown , and no more , ( as formerly it did pass in payment , ) and stop the currancy of clip'd and false money , and if we do not make forreign trade free , and safe to all the subjects of england , and put it so that they may set forth in it upon equal terms with foreigners ; i say if this be not done , there can be no paying our armies and fleet abroad ; consequently , no army or fleet of ours there : then the french will soon subdue our allies , and next us , then slavery and popery will be the lot of our inheritance for ever , and we with our allies thus ruined , shall soon end this war , object . but is not our coin rather to be ordered hereafter than now , and by degrees ( the guineas at least ) than all at once . answ . if we will go on with the war , it must be done presently . last years delay giving them opportunity for it , some ( i wish them branded ) to distress our king by making the payment of his army in flanders , if not impossible yet very difficult and costly , set upon the project of raising guineas , others for their particular gain did the like , and these together advancing guineas to 30 s. it left neither silver nor bills for payment of the army in flanders , and by that means made it next to a miracle that our king did subsist there the last campaigne . every moment we delay , our clippers and false coiners are at work , and which is worse , guineas at 30 s. and clipt and false money from abroad is poured in upon us , and so we encrease our ballance and loss by th●se degrees , and this delay . now is a fit time to do it , when some , confident that our 5 s. would be made 6 s. 3 d. have laid up in silver bullion about 200000 l. value , that must be brought to our mint , or applied ( which is as well ) to pay our armies abroad . the bulk of the guineas are now with ( or of right belong unto ) bankers , goldsmiths , the india and africa companies , jews , stock-jobbers , and the victualers , agents , or under-payers of the navy or armies , persons well provided by the gains they have had , and who do now oppose the fall of guineas only because they shall lose by it . and the doing it by degrees cannot help us , nor will it ease us in the least . the next thing is the east-india trade : which , though the most mischievous of any to us , yet since we must have it , and it is become in value near one half of the foreign trade of the kingdom , it ought to be made national , and secured that it be not lost to the dutch ( who by the continuance of our now company are much encreased in that trade , ) nor gotten from us by the scotch company , who invested as it is in act of parliament , and having jews , hamburghers , hollanders , english , and some of other nations , subscribers into it , will soon ( if not timely prevented ) get that trade , and more beneficial trades from us , i mean those to guinea and west-india , and perhaps all trade : for the grants in that act set together , make that company as it were universal monarch of trade . now for prevention against the one and the other , i do humbly offer against establishing by act of parliament the east-india trade in a company with a joint-stock exclusive of others the subjects of england . for such establishments of trade in england are malum in se , monopolies at common law , for that they give and appropriate that to some onely which is the common right of all : and in the instance now before us , do make but one buyer for what is exported , and but one seller for what is imported , to the value of near one half of the foreign trade of this kingdom . it is true , new invention and discovery hath alwayes been incouraged and rewarded with exclusive grants ; for that in those cases no other have any right antecedent to the thing granted . yet even in these cases , it hath been usual with parliaments to allow no more than fourteen years , exclusive to others the subjects of england , because they should not be long excluded in any case . and for time out of mind , the wisdom of our nation in parliament hath condemned exclusive grants of trade , as appears in magna charta , and in many other statures unrepealed . it may , and most likely will , endanger the peace and being of the english monarchy . it is a most pernicious contraction of trade , for that it cannot be extended to persons so as to make it national . if the whole trade of the nation were contracted as this to east india is , it would soon nationally perish ; for that the whole then in proportion , would scarce enrich one hundred and sixty persons , and maintain very few adventurers or traders . if the trade be thus settled for twenty one years , it will for many of those years exclude from trade the greater number of merchants , and many others , as minors ; those who are not now in cash , and those who have their trades swallowed up by this . future admission into this trade will be precarious , very costly , and may be lost . it will cause the dutch and scotch to surmount us in this trade . where our trade is without a company we out-do the dutch ; and where we have a company and they none , they out-do us . therefore , the dutch above all things desire the continuance of the now company in england . they by their agents here in 1656 , importuned o.c. to establish the now joynt-stock . it will unavoidably give being and support unto stock-jobbing . the loss of estates by cheats this way , and by the monopolists double tax upon us of one buyer and one seller , in so great a trade as this is , will in less than twenty years exceed two millions . the proposal in ease of our lands to raise money by such grants , if accepted , will lessen the value of our lands , and soon rid us of them . the benefits to our nation are many , if the trade to india be free , or in a regulated company , without a joynt-stock . ingenuity will be encouraged . new places of trade will be applyed to , others discovered . more of the sons of our gentry may be sent factors . it will increase the exportation of our manufacture and product . it will enable us to furnish europe with all the commodities of those countries , much cheaper than the dutch. it will add to our navigation , and augment the kings custom , stock-jobbing will cease . and it will prevent taking up money at interest upon a common seal , which as done by our now company , is a thing very unequal and hazardous to the subject ; and make it impossible to do the evil deeds our now company hath done ( and if continued may do ) here and in india , fully proved upon them before the commons in parliament . the india trade hath been carried on better for the nation without a company in a joynt-stock than with one , and may be so again . forts and castles in india , if we have them , cannot defend us in case the dutch , or french , or indians , be our enemies ; but may tempt us ( as it did the now company ) to offend them , or create a jealousie in the india princes of us , and by that means tempt them to offend us . and however joynt-stocks in trade may have been used here in the infancy of foreign trade , and granted by kings to a number of subjects named , ( the intention whereof was not particular but to them in trust for the general good , and in prospect of a future opening it unto national benefit ) yet now when we of this kingdom are arrived at the utmost degree of experience in commerce with all countries , i cannot see any reason why the subjects should lose their right , or should be clogg'd by joynt-stocks to the great dammage of the nation , as i have before made evident . what i have here said with respect to the india trade , is applicable to the guinea trade also . i am troubled for the late loss of six ships coming from the east-indies , whereof two were interlopers ; the whole , i compute , did cost them in india three hundred thousand pounds , not more . but i cannot infer thence any reason for an exclusive grant of that trade : for if so , then the interlopers who lost one third , must have one third of that trade , exclusive of the now company . and by a parity of reason , the now jamaica , barbadoes , and west-india merchants , who during this war have sustained greater loss , must have grants of those trades , exclusive of all others ; which if done , would make it cruel pity , and most unjust . as it had been if when london in 1666 was burnt , we to rebuild it , in compassion to them , had taxed the nation to the value of all our lands . to prevent scotland being the chief seat of all trade , or as it were the universal monarch in it ; i think we ought to make that design ( if we can ) abortive : and i think it will be so in case our parliament shall please . ( 1. ) to declare that the east-india trade is and shall be free to all the subjects of england . and that it shall be managed in a regulated company ( as the turkey , or as near it as may be ) without a joynt-stock , except a small one to defray the common and necessary charges of embassadors , &c. and , ( 2. ) that from and after the end of the session of parliament , which shall be in the year 1697 , in case it shall appear that the east-india company in scotland have made any progress in trade , that then all goods imported from east-india , in english ships and by english men , shall be custom free . to induce the former i have said enough before ; and to enforce the latter i say , that the doing it will not lessen our kings revenue ( comparatively ) one peny : for if it be not done , and the scots do proceed in that trade , &c. as it is enacted or granted to them , we shall not import any thing from india , &c. because they will have gotten all that trade from us . a court of merchants might be of use to us at this time. london , anno 1695. a further essay for the amendment of the gold and silver coins. with the opinion of mr. gerrard de malynes, who was an eminent merchant in the reign of queen elizabeth, concerning the standard of england. lowndes, william, 1652-1724. 1695 approx. 19 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a49332 wing l3322 estc r221368 99832687 99832687 37161 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a49332) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 37161) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1781:21) a further essay for the amendment of the gold and silver coins. with the opinion of mr. gerrard de malynes, who was an eminent merchant in the reign of queen elizabeth, concerning the standard of england. lowndes, william, 1652-1724. [2], 17, [1] p. printed by t. hodgkin, and sold by richard baldwin, near the oxford-arms in warwick-lane, london : 1695. signed at end: w.l. = william lowndes. running title reads: a further essay on gold and silver coins. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money -early works to 1800. 2002-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-04 tcp staff (oxford) sampled and proofread 2002-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-05 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a further essay for the amendment of the gold and silver coins . with the opinion of mr. gerrard de malynes , who was an eminent merchant in the reign of queen elizabeth , concerning the standard of england . london , printed by t. hodgkin , and sold by richard baldwin , near the oxford-arms in warwick-lane . 1695. a further essay on gold and silver coins . meeting with a book , entituled , an essay for the amendment of silver coins , which being written by the particular directions of the lords of the treasury , made me more curious to dive into the affair . and upon a strict survey i found that mr. lowndes , like a very ingenious gentleman , hath taken a great deal of pains by informing us , what records and indentures he has consulted , and what assistance he has had from the masters of the mint , to demonstrate the standard of the gold and silver used in several or most of the preceding reigns : and he hath also shew'd , how much we have been impos'd upon by the cunning artificers of the times ; as goldsmiths , merchants , &c. and furthermore , whence the word sterling took its derivation , viz. from a star or asterism , impress'd thereon , or from the iews star , or from sterling-castle in scotland , &c. mr. gerrard de malynes , who was an eminent merchant in queen elizabeth's reign , tells you , that the standard of the sterling-moneys of england , had its first birth from a place so call'd , being coined there by osbright , a saxon king , which is about eight hundred years ago , at which time an ounce of that silver was divided into twenty pieces , and so esteem'd as twenty-pence , and in that manner continu'd until henry the sixth's time. for what reason the standard came afterwards to be alter'd , i referr you to his book written upon this subject , entituled , the canker of england 's commonwealth , being one of the best things extant in its kind . i must confess , that i am so far of an opinion with mr. lowndes , that the standard ought to be alter'd , for to keep up a certain equality of trade and traffick between us and other countries , not suffering an over-balancing of foreign commodities with our home commodities , or in buying more than we can vend : for thereby our treasure will be exhausted , which is the life of trade and sinews of war : to this known disease therefore of the body politick , some publick remedy should necessarily be devised and applied , then sublatâ causâ , the cause being remov'd , the ill effect and consequences thereof will cease . it is to be consider'd , that the transporting of our ready money or bullion , maketh our home commodities sell cheap , and the foreign commodities dear , wherein chiefly consisteth the over-balancing ; so that in effect we give both money and commodities to have foreign commodities in exchange for them . some gentlemen who has made it their business for some years last past , to melt down all the mill'd and broad moneys , will tell you , that altering the standard will lessen the reputation of our trade abroad , as tho' all the foreign trade depended upon the exchange of money . to which objection i answer'd , that that trade which solely depends upon the exchange of english moneys had better be broken off and omitted than supported ; as instance in the trade which was maintained for several years betwixt england and france , where , by computation , it was made appear , that the french king receiv'd in specie of english money , at least a million per annum ; and by melting it down into his own national coin made at least ten per cent. more advantage of it ; so that it never made any return back to us . by which indirect practices abroad and the sinister dealings at home by our own crafty operators ; it is this that has benum'd our trade and thrown it into a lethargick dilemma . i humbly conceive , that since such indirect means hath been used both at home and abroad to exhaust our treasures , and the necessity of supplying the exigencies of the war all along has obliged us to transmit our moneys into other countries , that if speedy remedy is not taken to supply these present calamities , the government will become apoplective . but as we are now under an undeniable necessity for to call in the publick plate of the kingdom , so to supply the present exigency of affairs , it will be consistent with the honour and interest of this kingdom to examine and compare our weight with that of other kingdoms , and the fineness of our standard with that of other countries ; and if we differ not in proportion between the gold and silver , then may our exchange run at one price both for gold and silver , taking the denomination according to the valuation of the moneys of each country ; and hereby shall we find how much fine gold or silver our pound sterling containeth , and what quantities of other moneys of the netherlands , &c. have to counter value the same in the like weight and fineness to ours , whether it be by the pound , ducket , or dollar , giving always value for value , which was formerly called par. this course of exchange being abused , and of late years become a trade in rising and falling in price , according to plenty or scarcity of moneys , in regard of distance of places it hath become predominant , and doth over-rule the course of commodities , and thereby becomes the efficient cause of the over-balancing of commodities before-mentioned , and consequently the decrease of our wealth , and the exportation of our moneys , as by demonstrative reason have already been shew'd . as mr. lowndes has well observ'd , that it would be absolutely necessary to limit the exportation of bullion to a certain summ , which shall be sufficient to support our army ; yet it would have been much better , had he propos'd and mov'd for a free port in flanders , spain , and other confederate countries , where we might have bullion in lieu of our commodities . and whereas money will still be the measure of trade , as it is valued by the publick authority , being reduced to a certainty , whereby it doth not only give a set price unto all other metals , but receiveth ( as it were by repercussion ) a price in it self has made . so that as that studious gentleman ( who has made his remarks upon mr. lowndes's book ) saith , that advancing five shillings to six will in no wise advance trade , by reason you cannot buy therewith more goods than you could formerly . i will agree with the gentleman , if we are to buy foreign goods , there may be some tolerable plea for it , because they look upon our money , in reference to the value in weight , and not in denomination : but it is otherwise at home , from common experience ; for i have not yet found , but that if i had any moneys that was indifferently good , upon paying down i could buy as cheap as formerly . the second assertion , that lowering the standard doth sink the value of the gentlemens estates in the country ; for tho' they received 100 l. per annum in the new coin , they have in effect but 70 l. so they lose 30 l. per cent. for the truth of this assertion , i do appeal to the country gentlemen themselves , whether in the year last past they met with those inconveniencies , as to pay away 100 l. at the rate of 70. and when there is a prospect of receiving better moneys , there can be no such loss . i think the gentleman need not be farther answered , than by his own argument , in saying , that the price of moneys is the measure of trade . if so , then i hope when the price is reduced to a certainty by publick authority , it ought to be a rule for all people to be govern'd by ; as for example , if the government should enact that pieces of leather should have the publick stamp or impression , for to go for a penny , tho' those pieces are not worth one farthing , according to the intrinsic value , yet they may answer the end for which they were made , in going for a penny , to supply the present exigencies of affairs ; and as necessity is the mother of invention , it ought to put us on embracing such expedients as may be useful to our present emergencies ; as instance in the case of the late king iames , who called in all the plate , and the best moneys in ireland , by which means he debarr'd all his protestant subjects from holding any trade or commerce in any other coin than brass moneys , and that was advanced to an exorbitant rate ; yet they were well supported by , and as long as it continued at a price certain , it became current in payment . but upon this revolution of government , we were under a necessity of calling in those copper-moneys , so it prov'd very detrimental to such who had great quantities of it by them . and in the same manner it would be with us , if the late project should take of that gentleman who has propos'd to advance the standard for two years and no longer ; for nothing more preserves the reputation of moneys than keeping it to a certainty , so that the standard may not be subject to so many changes : and as to the valuation or alteration of moneys concerneth only the soveraignty or dignity of a prince or governour in every country , as a thing peculiar to the prerogative . an unknown author has also made his further remarks , that it is a disreputation for our nation to bring in its plate , by reason it argues our ability , and for that we are more esteem'd abroad by the wealth we have in plate . is it not more disreputable for to be said on us , that we have proportionable riches to discharge the burthen of our war , and at the same time be indebted to both our fleet and army . and what necessity is there for every ale-house-keeper to have 100 or 200 l. of plate , and the government to want it , unless it be to incourage rogues and vagabonds ; for scarce a sessions happens , but some one or other is arraigned for stealing a tankard , or the like . i must confess , that i had the honour to propose to the honourable houses of parliament this project that is now set on foot of calling in the plate and broad money , and of altering the standard , but meeting with such opponents as the nameless author ( who i presume is not willing to assist the government upon this term ) did help to break the neck of so good a design ; for if it had passed into an act at that time of the day , according to my then proposals , it had brought into the mint at least two millions of moneys . and the coinage upon the same proposal , besides appropriating so much ready money for the use of the war , would doubtless have been four hundred thousand pounds advantage to the crown : for , according to a strict computation , there is a million and one half of plate in the publick-houses ; besides , the advancing the price of standard will incourage private persons to bring in their plate . and it had prevented the exorbitant price of gold , and put a stop to the baseness of our coin. and as i propos'd it before for the service of the publick , without any self-interest , so if my poor thoughts should in some measure contribute to relieve us from the present calamities , i have attained my end. i must needs agree with mr. lowndes , that the gold ought to bear equal proportion with the advance of silver ; and according to that computation , a guinea should be established at four and twenty shillings , which , if coined into quarter-guinea's , would be very useful in way of trade . as relating to the clipp'd money , i am sorry i cannot assent to mr. lowndes's proposal ; for i think it very unreasonable that any person should be compell'd to bring in their money into the mint at eight shillings per ounce , when sixteen shillings currant now will scarce make an ounce ; so that the people shall lose one full half . besides , it is to be considered what inconveniences would happen daily betwixt the officers of the mint and the people , both about the weight and validity of the moneys . i am afraid it will prove of the same bad event to a great many poor people , as in the case of the late new-farthings , where the patentees were obliged to change two hundred pounds a week of the old white-farthings in lieu of them ; which contract they faithfully perform'd for about a month , but soon after that time no farthings must be exchang'd but by their own creatures , and factors , who they had impowered to buy up for a third part of what they used to go at . i do not find mr. lowndes does propose any farther advantage to those that have unhappily gotten the counterfeit-money into their hands , than the intrinsick value , which will be six-pence in half a crown ; so that according to the computation that may be made , by the loss of the clipp'd-money and birmingham-coin , will amount to no less than a million and one half ; wherefore eight hundred thousand proposed cannot repair the defect . and who must bear this loss but the poor people , for the rich have gotten all the best moneys ; and by the proposal made , they reap an advantage by bringing it into the mint , whilst the meaner sort will lose . with submission to better judgments , i do think it but reasonable that the government ought to bear the loss , and that all the base moneys ( excepting copper ) should be brought in by a prefixt time , and a fund settled to answer the defect : and then people will have encouragement to bring in their moneys . lastly , i wish that whilst the new moneys are coining , that some expedient may be found out to supply the necessities of the poor ; tho' in some measure the quarter-guinea's would be very useful in town , tho' not so in the countries , by reason moneys are more scarce . there are several pieces of small money that are laid up , as groats , &c. which if made currant by the king's proclamation , would be very useful under these emergencies . and further , if this project in altering the coin should be approv'd and granted . i wish that commissioners may be chosen in every county for to take an estimate of what moneys there are ; and that instead of delivering notes for peoples money , that tallies may be struck gradually as the money is brought in , which , in my opinion , will be much better than notes : in that tallies are not subject to be counterfeited . but for the better regulating of the gold and silver , as aforesaid , i do propose the following expedients . i. expedient . that all mill'd and broad moneys may be so far advanced as to induce people to bring it forth , and to prevent the transportation of the same , which will be a proper means to supply us with present cost . ii. expedient . that gold may bear the same proportion in advance with silver , according to mr. lowndes's notion , a guinea will come to twenty four shillings ; so that coining them down into quarter-guinea's , to consist of six shillings valuation each , will make them equally useful in trade with the new shillings . iii. expedient . that his majesty would graciously be pleased to issue out his royal proclamation , that all silver groats , two-pences , &c. might become current , by which means they will be brought to light , and be very useful in change , whereas they are at present like so much dead weight . iv. expedient . that all shillings and six-pences may be current still , until the new coin shall be issued out , which , with the moneys aforementioned , i humbly conceive may be sufficient to supply the common trade in the interim . v. that some expedient may be found out to supply us with moneys for the support of our army in flanders , from holland , spain , &c. by which means we shall prevent the transportation of bullion , which is so dear and scarce a commodity . vi. exped . that all birmingham moneys may be brought into the mint by a prescrib'd time , and a fund settled to answer the defect of it ; for , at the same time , as the banks and goldsmiths will get by the broad money , it would be unreasonable that the poor should lose by their base , and according to computation , eight hundred thousand pounds will not repair the defect ; but it will be as absolutely necessary that such care be taken that foreigners may be prevented from importing to us base moneys ; for it is to be feared they have had too great a stroke in this affair already . vii . expedient . i think it very reasonable , that the publick plate should be called in , to answer the defect of our base moneys , and supply us with the new coin ; for the government ought not to want moneys as long as we have it amongst us . viii . exped . that people may have tallies struck for the moneys instead of notes , in regard tallies are not to be counterfeited . all which expedients and reasons i have offer'd , nevertheless i submit to the considerations of more competent judges . w. l. finis . to the honnorable the commons of the realme of england, assembled in parliament explanation. concerning certaine expedients by vvhich the state of england may reape notable advantage. baltazar gerbier knight. gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a42642 of text r219866 in the english short title catalog (wing g578). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 22 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 6 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a42642 wing g578 estc r219866 99831313 99831313 35776 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42642) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 35776) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2049:15) to the honnorable the commons of the realme of england, assembled in parliament explanation. concerning certaine expedients by vvhich the state of england may reape notable advantage. baltazar gerbier knight. gerbier, balthazar, sir, 1592?-1667. [12] p. s.n.], [london? : m.dc.xlvi. [1646] place of publication conjectured by the cataloguer. signatures: a c² . reproduction of the original in the bodleian library, oxford. eng great britain. -parliament -history -early works to 1800. money supply -great britain -early works to 1800. taxation -england -early works to 1800. a42642 r219866 (wing g578). civilwar no to the honnorable the commons of the realme of england, assembled in parliament. explanation. concerning certaine expedients by vvhich the s gerbier, balthazar, sir 1646 4003 58 0 0 0 0 0 145 f the rate of 145 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2004-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the honnorable the commons of the realme of england , assembled in parliament . explanation . concerning certaine expedients by vvhich the state of england may reape notable advantage . baltazar gerbier knight . m. dc . xlvi . to the honnorable the commons of the realme of england assembled in parliament . explanation . concerning certaine expedients by vvhich the state of england may reape notable advantages . humbly shevveth that the state may get a present stocke of tvvo hvndred thovsand povnds , and a yearly constant revenevv of three hvndred thovsand povnds , and procure to the people notable advantages and suerty in estate , vocation , trafic and credit ; by the speedy erecting of a protocoll office , benches of loane , benche of payment , and public saile offices , &c. at the example of others , vvhere they have beene erected vvith generall applause . the first , ( vvhich is the protocoll office ) vvas first thought on in the first yeare of the raigne of king henry the iv. of france , first put in practise in picardie and vermandois ; vvhere unconsionnable persons had accustomed themselves to conceale morgages , transactions , douaries , and other acts ; vvhich by all purchassers vvere deceived in their bargaines , many good famillies and peaceable persons put to great vexations , long and chargeable processes , vvhich did often prove the undoing of honourable and honest famillies , vviddovvs and orphans besides other mischievous accidents . the generall states of the united provinces did at that good example establish the said office in their iuridictions , and did erect the same in the most sure , regular , compleat method , as the time than did permit ; did since by the continuance of able states men , reduce the same in the best and readiest forme as could be thought on ; and so sure for all true proprietaries and purchassers , as it proved an impossibility for any unconssionable persons to use any deceat in their morgages , transactions , douaries , saile or gifts , as they vvere vvont to do , by concealing ( as aforesaid ) their deeds , and by passing them in severall places , and by unknovvn persons ; nor vvas it since possible for parties to be overtaken by any error , nor by shortnesse of time , for that the truth of all proprietaries rights and estates in possessions of lands and houses vvas knovvn at an instant , vvithout their cost ; yet vvith their consent , othervvayes not : for that no persons are permitted to vievv the records , but vvith a ticket subscribed by the proprietary , vvhich he gives to the party that is minded to purchasse ( or to put forth his money on a morgage ) only to vievv the records , vvhen he is fully agreed on conditions vvith the said party . the purchasser ( as said ) being himselfe the discoverer of the state of the case , vvith ease and safety freeth himselfe of all disputes , quarels , and processes : vvhich discovery is vvith the least discredit possible to proprietaries ; vvhen it vvas othervvayes by the recours had to common roules ; besides that all acts vvere but confusedly ( as in a cahos ) put into the said common roules , vvhich is to serve only as for a iournall . the records of this protocoll office ( vvhich is a particular record ) are in number ansvverable to the parishes in the city and tovvn vvherein the office is erected . the records are great books of the largest paper , consisting of 300 leafes and no more , to shune confusion ; every leafe bearing in cheefe the name of the proprietary of lands and houses , in such order as the houses stand in the city or tovvn . the leafe bearing the right vallidity , vvorth of the pocession , and any morgages thereon , dovvaries , gifts or any act soever . the enroulment is immediatly after the signing and sealing of deeds ; and after the entring of such acts in the common roules . if any propietary , heire , or purchasser obmits the enroullements of his succession , gift , saile , transport , morgage ( or any other ) his right is voyde , and forfaited to the state . this publicke security is a bate to all purchassers , and to all persons desirous to put forth a stock of mony , and to secure them against all frauds and incombrances . the records are kept in a secure place from fier , and others accidents . their keepers are payed by yearly stipends , proportionnable to the number of books in their managing . the record keepers are under the generall diteory of an eminent officer of the state . at the first erection of the said protocoll office , all men vvere bound to proceed to the enroulement of acts , vvithin the first six vveeks thereof : vvhich braught in a present great stock of mony , proceeding from the rights of enroulments . the keepers of the records are accountable ( of the rights received for the enroulments of acts ) to their generall director . the said rights for all records of deeds , successions in dessendent assendent or colaterall line , gifts , saile , morgage , or any condition soever are payed by both parties . the general director is accountable to the state of the rights received for the said enroullements . the rights are in holland tvvo and halfe per cent . it is humbly conceived that as the said office of particular protocol or record , vvould prove of as great benefit to the subjects , of the state of england , as it doth to the subjects of other states , that it vvould be of particular use to the state for a porportionnable equallity in the assessements of svbsidies and fifthiens . that the rights of enroulments ( though the state should put them but at one per cent payed betvveen the tvvo parties ) vvould produce a vaste stock of money to the state , and a perpetuall constant revenevv ; by reason of the often change of proprietaries , and enroullements of acts ; at least often change of proprietaries , of houses , and the continuall acts for morgages . vvhich present stock and yearly revenevv as it vvould accrevv from those that are able , so vvith the more applause , that as aforesaid proprietaries and purchassers are secured in their rights and purchasses ; and are thereby freed of all such cost and incombrances as they othervvayes are subject unto . it is likevvise humbly conceived , that the state can augment that stock and yearely revenevv to a large proportion by erecting throughout the kingdome ( for the great benefit of the subject ) benches of loane , pvblic saile offices , and a bench of payment : vvhich is demonstrated first , by benches of loane , as follovveth , viz. the erecting of benches of loane begun some tvvo hundred yeares and above in the kingdom of naples , and throughout all itally ; and at their example vvere established in other parts of most trafic , to serve for releefe of all negosiants , tradsmen and all needy persons , of vvhat quality and condition soever : and to free them ( and all vvell gouverned states ) of the most pernicious practice of ievvish benches of loane , aftervvards disguised by the name of lombards , vvhich prouved to be as cancors in any common-vveal●h for that they did extort of the needy ( by a redoublement of interest upon interest ) first , three score & above in the hundred , for the bare loane ; and over and above intollerable fees , for enroulment , and releasement of goods ; vvhich in conclusion raised to such a hight , as that proprietaries did find themselves at last deprived of their maine stock : besides that for the most part for vvant of timly releassement , they lost their goods on pretence of forfaiture ; and no such thing in practise ( as in the benches of loane ) to restore to the ovvners of the goods any surplus made of the goods vvhen sold . it being likevvise found that those ievvish-lombards , did export all the vvealth they had gotten during the many yeares they had practised their unconssionnable and most pernicious vsury . it mouved good and vvise stats-men to forbid the practise of lombards , and to banish the lombard-keepers for ever : yet that the publick might be supplied , they settled in their place such benches of loane as could stand vvith conscience , and could bee maintained by the undertakers : allovved them to take the ordinary use according to statute , and for satisfying the charges ; as for house rent , store-roomes , stipends of officiers , and all necessaries belonging to the said benches . this establishement being found most iust and fit , vvas recommended to the perpetuall survey , and protection , of tvvo eminent persons of church , and state , and hath continued so ever since , vvithout any interruption , nor any fault found in the administration . like benches of loane have been establisht throughout all the land of liege , and the iuridictions of the prince elector of collen , in lorraine , brabant , flandres , arthois , haynault , and throughout all the iuridictions of the generall states of the vnited provinces . king henry the iv of france , and his son king louys the xiii , ( on remonstrances of horridde abuses committed in that kingdome by ievvish brokers and lombards ) have often denounced their pleasure by proclamations for the utter abolishing of that pernicious practice , and instead of it to have benches of loane establisht : yet could not their iust and pious intention take effect , though their edicts have beene enacted in the parliament of paris , and the chamber of edict : so povverfull the leagues and combinations of broakers hath hetherto prouved against that course ; only the establishment of a bench of loane hath overcome in favour of all marchants of vvines , and fish , vvhereby the ovvners receive ready mony from the said benches of loane , and so are at an instant dispatcht , and provided vvith mony to further their affaires . vvhich hath been the maine scope in all states , by the erecting of benches of loane , producing in all parts the readiest and the most easiest releefe to all needy persons . so the generall strengtning , and increase of trading , and a maine remeddy to prevent the suddaine breaking of many good and honnest marchants ; vvhich hath beene found of forceable experience in the iuridiction of the generall states of the vnited provinces , vvhere there is not a city nor tovvne , but is provided vvith a bench of loane ; so are all market-tovvnes , and sea ports of traffic , vvhere all marchants and tradsmen are on a suddaine releeued vvith money on all such commodities as they are desirous to have ready money upon , or such commodities as for a time vvill not vvell yeld their price ( vvhen by the not putting them off they vvould remaine unprovided of such monyes as they need to satisfie creditors and bils of exchange vvhich are dravven on them , and vvhich othervvayes vvould constraine them to breake , though , they have their store-houses and shops vvell stored . ) the husband-man is likevvise by the said benches enabled to keepe his plovvgh , and to pay his land-lord , vvhen othervvayes for vvant of saile of a full quantity of his graines ( on fit and ordinary market dayes ) he is often constreined to sell his cattell , and to let the plovving and mannuring of his land cease ; vvhich to prevent as vvell as other inconveniencies incident to the inhabitants of great cities , tovvns , and sea-ports , the magistrats have been so carefull off , as that they have taken to their particullar taske , the administration of divers of the said benches ; as at amsterdam , rotterdam , middelbourgh , flishing , and at other sea-ports ; and put the benches of the other tovvnes , and market-tovvns , to men confided by the state , to vvhich the said men are accountable , for they take all such bench●s in farme . and as the state cannot be defrauded of its rights ( the administration of the said benches being ( as said ) put in the hands of honest able men so the state puts to profit in those benches of loane ( kept by the magistrat ) all such stock of money , as the state thinkes fit to employ . and thus , as the state of england can ( on the true experience of the generall good vvhich the said establishment of benches of loane doth produce in other parts ) procure to the subjects like advantages , and enable them the more to contribute to the public occasions of the state , ) strenckten trading in all parts of the realme , and invite all forrainers to come to the sea-ports vvith their marchandise ( since by the ready course of a benche of loane , the said forrainers may be soone dispatch , and speedily provide themselves vvith such commodities as the port and countrey doth afford ) so the said state ( being disposed to put a stock to the erecting , establishing , and administring of benches of loane in the mayne cities , and ports of the kingdome , ) vvill make an incredible great gaine , and in a most iust and laudable course . and it is thus understood , that the state vvill raise ( vvithout any presure of the subject ) to a great and ample proportion that stock , vvhich vvill accrevv from the rights of a protocoll office , vvhich is the first expedient before mentionned . and if the state should thincke fit to employ to the keeping of benches of loane part of the stock , vvhich vvill accrevv from a benche of payment , and likvvise of that of the rights of pvblick saille offices : the state vvill find ( as it is humbly conceived ) great facility therein , and that the making use of a stock , vvhich the benche of payment vvill produce is grounded on equity ; and vvithout any presure at all to the subject , vvhich is demonstrated , first concerning a benche of payment , as follovveth , viz. a benche of payment is kept by the magistrats of tovvns ( as so it is requisite for the publick security ) at the example of the benches of payment in itally and in the nederland provinces under the state generall ; it 's the public cash of all negotiants , vvho ( to free themselves of the continuall receite , and payment of monyes , vvhich takes so much of their time as proves too prejudiciall in their affaires ) keepe in banco ( as they call it ) a constant stock , vvithout any charge or cost to them , thereon to make their assignations , and to raise their credit by a public fame , of the considerable stock by them kept therein . experience manifests , that in the said bench ( vvhich is the receptacle of a great tresor , ) remaines continually a vaste ussesse stock of monny ; of vvhich the aministrators of the bench do ( vvithout any difficulty ) put to gaine a great part , and that they can do it vvithout difficulty , experience hath manifested the same divers times , that though they put forth great part of that stock vvhich layeth uslesse in the cash-yet doth the said cash remaine so vvell provided , as that the negotiants are readdily served , vvhen they call for their monny : this hath often been made apparent , vvhen negotiants had been mis-informed by ill grounded brutes ( raised by malicious and ignorant persons ) concerning the point of trust , in the administrators of the bench , that they resolved to put it to a triall , by dravving at one time ●may thousands of pouns out of the bench . for instance that in iully 1645 , negotiants did dravv in one day out of the bench of amsterdam , foure hundred thousand pound sterlingh , and that they vvere immediatly after as prompt to redouble their stock in the said bench , being confirmed that they might repose on its infalibility ; of vvhich they had no more cause to doubt than on the first day of its erection , vvhich vvas at the example of other like benches , vvho never failled . and so it is certain that a great gaine is made by putting as said to profitable use , part of that great stock vvhich lyeth ussesse therein : vvhich vvill ( as is humbly conceived ) prouve so vvith a benche of payment in london , in case the present time prouves not absolutly contrary to its erection ; vvhich must have its fondation on a generall disposition in all negotiants to a vigourous trading , and to embrace all vvhat may be advantagious unto them . vvhich consideration ( though in season ) could not oblige the proponant to passe in silence the use vvhich the state may make by the erecting of a benche of payment , since it is likvvise fit to be annext to the aforesaid establishment , tending to the maine releefe and advantage of the subject , and vvherein the interest of the state is likevvise concerned , as it is humbly conceived to bee interessed in the erecting of a pvblick saille office , on the grounds and methode follovving , viz. the great abuses vvhich have been in public out-cryes and saile of goods ; in divers places ( sold by officers in combination vvith brokers ) vvho devide the profits of goods sold at under rattes , vvhen distresse constrained the proprietaries to part from them at such price as those officers and brokers vvould put on the said goods , provved such an intollerable grievance to the need , ( vvhen their goods so sould , the monny made thereof , the charge deducted , did but serve to satisfie their creditors in part , and the sergeants , vvhen not a bed left to the poore distressed to lay on . ) that it mouved good states men to thinke on a course to free the needy from the said grievance , and to remouve from the parish corners the pittyfull and lamentable spectacle of goods sould by distresse . the course they chouse vvas as follovving , viz. they made choise of trusty able men , to make masters of publick outcry offices , in every city and tovvn , and appointed fit houses , to serve for the publick saile of mouvables : did order that the said masters of saile office should afford to all buyars 3 months-time for the payment of such sommes of monny for the mouvables baught at the said out-cry ; that the buyar might prouve a more liberall chapman ; and that consequently the goods might bee sould at the best rate , to the benefit of the ovvner . ordered the said master to advance to the party , vvhole goods vvere sould , all such sommes as they had yeelded in their said saile ; and that he should make it his vvork ( for a set consideration ) to get his rembourssement , vvhich hath proved a great advantage and releefe to all needy persons , and furtherance for the cleering and settling the estates of all mortuary houses , heyres , and executors . the states generall of the nederland provinces have on the said saile office the tvventieth penny , and do allovv to the master of the office the like proportion , for vvhich the needy are releeved , and become gainers , since othervvays their goods vvould be sold for halfe their vallue ; by reason of the combination of brokers , and that except the terme of 3 months be allotted to the buyars of goods they are not mouved to offer freely for them . out of this said office the state ( as aforesaid ) vvill increase its revenevv , and by imploying likevvise part of vvhat it may render to the stock for the benches of loane ; it vvill augment its revenevv to the proportion as aforesaid . considered first , vvhat the protocoll office vvill render throughout the vvhole kingdome , both in ready monny and yearely revenevv , though the state should direct but one per cent , to be received for the rights of enroulements , vvhich should be but the halfe of the rights taken by the generall states of the vnited provinces . secondly , vvhat the use of monny put into the benches of loane throughout the vvhole kingdome vvould come unto , the use being no more than according unto statute , as before said . thirdly , vvhat the tvventieth penny of all pvblick saille offices throughout the kingdome vvould yeld . fourthtly , vvhat the stock , vvhich should bee put to profit of that vvhich vvill lay uslesse in a benche of payment vvill produce . vvhich ( as it is humbly conceived ) vvill not be said of the nature of taxations , lesse to prove pressures to the subject , since ( as before said ) they produce notable advantages , as first , viz. the protocoll office secures all proprietaries , freeth them of charges , of processes , disputes , quarrels and incombrances . the bench of loane ; releefes all needy persons ( vvhereof the most poorest are to a certaine some to be assisted gratis ) strencktneth and increaseth trade , and extripated all intollerable vsury . the benche of payment accommodates all negotiants . the pvblic saile office releefes and fits all needy persons that are constrained to sell their goods . on all vvhich the state vvill receive ( vvhen pleased to command ) all such further satisfaction as may be requisite , besides the service , dutifull attendance an application of those that are verst in the said expedients . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a42642e-80 h●vv t● first sto● money acrevvs t● the stat● a proto● office . rights enroul●●ments . cōcerni● assessem● of subsi● and fift● hovv the revenev● the state vvould b● raised by protoco● office . revene● acrevvin● from the● that are a● and the a●vantage● they rec● tehreby . 〈◊〉 time ● ben●● of ●●nevve●e ●●blisht , 〈◊〉 the ●●nds ●●eof . bench ●ane ●yed by ●emi● mem● of the 〈◊〉 bench o● loane b● gun in france . the suddain brea●●ing of m●●chants p●●●vented . the rele●● of husba●●●men . magistra● of tovv● administrators 〈◊〉 benches 〈◊〉 loane . ●●vv the ●●te puts ●profit a 〈◊〉 of ●uney . ●erall ●antages ● bench 〈◊〉 loane . ●acerning ●ench of ●ment . ●ncerning ●aile ●ice . the benc● of the pr●●positions ● sir william petty his quantulumcunque concerning money to the lord marquess of halyfax, anno 1682. quantulumcunque concerning money petty, william, sir, 1623-1687. 1695 approx. 24 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54623 wing p1935 estc r22441 12363539 ocm 12363539 60336 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54623) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60336) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 220:27) sir william petty his quantulumcunque concerning money to the lord marquess of halyfax, anno 1682. quantulumcunque concerning money petty, william, sir, 1623-1687. [2], 157-167 p. printed for a. and j. churchill ..., london : 1695. reproduction of original in university of chicago library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england. foreign exchange -england. 2003-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-08 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-08 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion sir william petty his quantulumcunque concerning money . to the lord marquess of halyfax , anno 1682. london : printed for a. and j. churchill , at the black swan , in paternoster row , 1695. sir william pettys quantulumcunque concerning money , 1682. to the lord marquess of halyfax . suppose that 20s . of new mill'd money doth weigh 4 ounces troy , according to custom or statute . suppose that 20s . of old eliz. and james's money , which ought also to weigh 4 ounces troy , doth weigh 3 ounces troy ; and very variously between 3 and 4 ounces , viz. none under 3 , and none full 4. suppose that much of the new mill'd regular money is carried into the east-indies , but none of the old light and unequal money . questions . qu. 1. whether the old unequal money ought to be new coined , and brought to an equality ? answ. it ought : because money made of gold and silver is the best rule of commerce , and must therefore be equal , or else it is no rule ; and consequently no money , and but bare metal which was money before it was worn and abused into inequality . qu. 2. at whose charge ? answ. at the states charge , as now it is : because the owner was no cause of its inequality , but the states neglect in ( not ) preventing and punishing such abuses , which are remedied by new coinage . qu. 3. of what weight and fineness ought the new shiling to be ? answ. of the same with the other present new money , and which the old was of , when it was new : because all must be like , all according to the statute ; and all fit to pay ancient debts , according to what was really lent . qu. 4. suppose 20s . of old money may make but 18s . of new , who shall bear the loss of the two shillings ? answ. not the states : because men would clip their own money : but the owner himself must bear the loss , because he might have refused light and defective money , or put it away in time ; it being sufficient that he shall have new regular beautiful money for his old unequal money , at the states charge , ounce for ounce weight . * qu. 5. after this reformation of coin , will more silver be carried out of england , suppose into the east-indies , then before ; and to the damage of england ? answ. somewhat more : but none to the damage of england , eo nomine ; but rather to its profit : because the merchant will be considered for the manufacture of the new money ; besides the metal of it , as he only was when he carried out spanish reals . qu. 6. whereas the merchant carries scarlet and silver to the indies , will he not now carry only the new coined silver ? answ. the merchant will buy as much scarlet as he can for 100 new shillings , and then consider whether he shall get more silk in the indies for that scarlet than for another 100 of the like shillings : and , according to this conjecture , he will carry scarlet or shillings in specie , or part one , part the other , if he be in doubt . qu. 7. but will not england be impoverished by merchants carrying out the said 100 shillings ? answ. no , if he brings home for them as much silk as will yield above 100 shillings ( perhaps 200 shillings ) in spain , and then bring the same 200 into england : or , if he bring home as much pepper as an english man will give him 200 of the like shillings for . so the merchant and england shall both gain by exporting the 100 shillings . qu. 8. but if the new shilling were but ¾ ths of the weight as formerly , then the merchant would not meddle with them at all , and so secure this fear of impoverishment ? answ. the merchant would export then , just as before ; only he will give but ¾ so much pepper , or other indian goods , for the new retrenched shilling as he did for the old : and would accept in india ¾ as much pepper as he formerly had for the old : and consequently there would be no difference , but among a few such fools as take money by its name , and not by its weight and fineness . qu. 9. if a shilling was by new coinage reduced to ¾ of its present weight , should we not thereby have ⅓ more of money then now we have , and consequently be so much the richer ? ans. you would indeed have ⅓ part more of the new christned shillings ; but not an ounce more of silver , nor money ; nor could you get an ounce more of forreign commodities for all your new multiplied money than before : nor even of any domestick commodities ; but perhaps a little at first from the few fools above mentioned . as for instance ; suppose you buy a silver vessel from a goldsmith weighing 20 ounces , at 6s . per ounce , making 6 pounds or 24 ounces of coined silver ; now suppose that the said 6 pounds were reduced from weighing 24 ounces to weigh but 18 ounces upon the new coinage ; but be still called 6 pound even by the king's proclamation ; can it be imagined that the goldsmith will give his vessel weighing 20 ounces of wrought for 18 ounces of unwrought silver ? for the workmanship of money is of little value . now the absurdity is the same in all other commodities , though not so demonstrable as in a commodity whose materials are the same with money . qu. 10. cannot authority command that men should give as much commodity for the new retrencht money , as for the old which weighed ⅓ part more ? answ. then the effect of such authority would also be to take away ⅓ of all mens goods , which are commodities beyond seas , and give the same to forreigners , who would have them for ¾ of the usual quantity of silver : and the same authority would take away from the creditor ⅓ of the money which was due before the proclamation . qu. 11. whereas you suppose retrenching ¼ in the new coinage ; suppose it was but 1 / 10 , how would the matter be then ? answ. just the same : for magis et minus non mutant speciem : but it were better you supposed that one shilling were to be taken for 10 or 20 , then the absurdity would be it self so visible , as to need no such demonstration , as is needful in such small matters as common sense cannot discern : for if the wealth of the nation could be decupled by a proclamation , it were strange that such proclamations have not long since been made by our governours . qu. 12. will not some men , having occasions to buy commodities in forreign parts , carry out all money , and so not vend or export our own commodities at all ? answ. if some english merchants should be so improvident , yet the forreign merchants would buy up such english commodities as they wanted , with money brought into england from their respective countries , or with such commodities as england likes better than money . for the vending of english commodities doth not depend upon any other thing , but the use and need which forreigners have of them . but were it not a folly for an english man not to carry lead into turkey : but go thither with money , in his ballast , and so loose the freight of the lead , which he might sell there ; and that a ship should come from turkey with money , in her ballast also , to fetch lead from england which might have been carried at first by the english ship ? no : the art of a merchant is to consider all those matters , so as no prince's proclamation concerning the weight and denominations of coins , signifies any thing to forreigners when they know it , nor to his own subjects pro futuro , what e're disturbances it may make amongst them pro proeterito . we say again : it were better for a prince owing 20s . to say he will pay but 15s . than disguishing his own particular purpose , to say that all landlords shall henceforth take 15s . rent for 20s . due to them by their tenants leases ; and that he who hath lent a 100l . on the monday , ( the proclamation of retrenchment coming out on tuesday ) may be repaid on wednesday with ¾ or 75l . of the very money he lent two days before . qu. 13. why is not our old worn unequal money new coined and equallized ? answ. there may be many weak reasons for it ; but the only good one which i know , is , that bad and unequal money may prevent hoarding , whereas weighty , fine and beautiful money doth encourage it in some few timorous persons , but not in the body of trading men. upon the account of beauty our britannia half-pence were almost all horded as medals till they grew common ; for if but 100 of those pieces had been coined , they would for their work and rarity have been worth above 5s . each , which for their matter are not worth that half-penny they pass for : for in them , materiam superabat opus . qu. 14. why hath money been raised , or retrencht , or imbased by many wise states , and so often ? answ. when any state doth these things , they are like bankrupt merchants , who compound for their debts by paying 16s . 12s , or 10s . in the pound ; or forcing their creditors to take off their goods at much above the market rates . and the same state might as well have paid but ¾ of what they ow'd , as to retrench their money in general to ¾ of the known weight and fineness . and these practices have been compassed by bankers and cashiers , for oblique considerations , from the favourites of such princes and states . qu. 15. it is then the honour of england that no such tricks have been practiced , though in the greatest streights that ever that state hath been in . answ. it hath been their wisdom , and consequently their honour to keep up a rule and measure of trade amongst themselves , and with all nations . qu. 16. but is there no case wherein money may be justly and honourably raised ? answ. yes , in order to regulation and equalizing of species of coins ; as when two species of one weight and fineness are taken at different rates , then the one may be raised or the other depressed : but this must be rated by the estimation of the whole world as near as it can be known , and not by any private nation ; and the like may be done between gold and silver . qu. 17. what do you think of the rising or falling of the price of lands , from this following instance , viz. a piece of land was sold 60 years ago for 1000l . that is for a 1000 jacobusses ; and the same land is now sold for 1000l . or 1000 guineas , and the guinea is but ⅚ the weight of the jacobus . is the land cheaper now than 60 years ago ? answ. it looks like a demonstration that it is : yet if gold be not money , but a commodity next like to money , and that silver be only money ; then we must see whether 1000 jacobusses would then purchase no more silver than 1000 guineas will do now : for if so , the land was heretofore and now sold for the same quantity of money , though not of gold ; and is neither risen nor fallen by what hath been instanced . qu. 18. what is the difference between retrenching or raising of money , and imbasing the metal of the same , as by mixing copper with silver ? answ. the first is the better of the two , if such mixture be of no use in other things : for if 20s . which contains 4 ounces of silver , should be reduced to 3 ounces of silver , it is better than to add one ounce of copper to the same , in order to make 4 seeming ounces as before : for if you come to want the said 3 ounces of silver mixt with copper , you must lose the copper , upon the test , and the charge of refining also , which will amount to above 4 per cent. qu. 19. what do you object against small silver money ; as against single pence , two pences , & c. ? answ. that the coinage of small pieces would be very chargeable , and the pieces themselves apt to be lost , and more liable to wearing ; for little of our old small money is now to be seen , and our groats are worn away to three half-pence ( worth ) in metal . qu. 20. what do you say of money made wholly of base metal , such as farthings , & c. ? answ. that the want of materials ought to be made up by the fineness of coinage , to very near the intrinsick value ; or what is gained by the want of either , to be part of the king's revenue . qu. 21. which is best , copper or tin , for this purpose ? answ. copper : because it is capable of the most imitable and durable coinage : though the copper be forreign , and tin a native commodity . for suppose copper and tin of the same value in england ; yet if 100 weight of tin sent to turkey will fetch home as much silk as will fetch above 100 of copper from sweden , in such case the difference between native and forreign is nothing . qu. 22. this doctrine may extend to a free exportation of money and bullion , which is against our laws : are our laws not good ? answ. perhaps they are against the laws of nature , and also impracticable : for we see that the countries which abound with money and all other commodities , have followed no such laws : and contrarywise , that the countries which have forbid these exportations under the highest penalties , are very destitute both of money and merchandize . qu. 23. is not a country the poorer for having less money ? answ. not always : for as the most thriving men keep little or no money by them , but turn and wind it into various commodities to their great profit , so may the whole nation also ; which is but many particular men united . qu. 24. may a nation , suppose england , have too much money ? answ. yes : as a particular merchant may have too much money , i mean coined money , by him . qu. 25. is there any way to know how much money is sufficient for any nation ? answ. i think it may pretty well be guessed at ; viz. i think that so much money as will pay half a years rent for all the lands of england , and a quarters rent of the houseing , and a weeks expence of all the people , and about a quarter of the value of all the exported commodities , is sufficient for that purpose . now when the states will cause these things to be computed , and the quantity of their coins to be known , which the new coining of their old money will best do , then it may also be known whether we have too much or too little money . qu. 26. what remedy is there if we have too little money ? answ. we must erect a bank , which well computed , doth almost double the effect of our coined money : and we have in england materials for a bank which shall furnish stock enough to drive the trade of the whole commercial world. qu. 27. what if we have too much coin ? answ. we may melt down the heaviest , and turn it into the splendor of plate , in vessels or utensils of gold and silver ; or send it out , as a commodity , where the same is wanting or desired : or let it out at interest , where interest is high . qu. 28. what is interest or use-money ? answ. a reward for forbearing the use of your own money for a term of time agreed upon , whatsoever need your self may have of it in the mean while . qu. 29. what is exchange ? answ. local interest , or a reward given for having your money at such a place where you most need the use of it . qu. 30. what is the trade of a banker ? answ. buying and selling of interest and exchange : who is honest only upon the penalty of losing a beneficial trade , founded upon a good opinion of the world , which is called credit . qu. 31. you were speaking of base money and farthings , which are generally below the intrinsick value , and therefore ought not to be permitted to increase ad infinitum . is there any way to know how many were enough ? answ. i think there is : viz. allowing about 12d . in farthings to every family : so as if there be a million of families in england ( as i think there be ) then about 50,000l . in farthings would suffice for change ; and if such farthings were but ⅕th below the intrinsick value , the nation would pay but 10,000l . for this convenience : but if this way of families be not limitation enough , you may help it by considering the smallest piece of silver money current in the nation ; which how much lesser it is , by so much lesser may the number of farthings be : the use of farthings being but to make up payments in silver , and to adjust accompts : to which end of adjusting accompts let me add , that if your old defective farthings were cryed down to 5 a penny , you might keep all accompts in a way of decimal arithmetick , which hath been long desired for the case and certainty of accompts . qu. 32. what do you think of our laws for limiting interest ? answ. the same as of limiting the exportation of money , and there may be as well laws for limiting exchange also : for interest always carrieth with it an ensurance proemium , which is very casual , besides that of forbearance : for instance , in ireland there was a time when land ( the highest security ) was sold for 2 years purchase : it was then naturally just to take 20 , 30 , or 40 per cent. interest ; whereas there the law allows but 10. and since that time , land being risen to 12 years purchase , responsible men will not give above 8. and insolvent men will offer cent. per cent. notwithstanding the law. again , suppose a man hath 100l . of land worth 20 years purchase , and another 100l . in houses , worth 12 years purchase , and an other 100l . in shipping worth 2 years purchase ; and another in horses , worth 6 months purchase ; is it not manifest he must have a greater yearly proemium for lending his house than his land , his ship than his house , and his horse than his ship ? for if his horse be worth 100l . he cannot hire him out for less than 10s . per diem , whereas the land will not yield a groat for the same time ; and these hires are the same with interest . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54623-e80 * this is a controverted question , but on the whole we have no difficulty in dissenting from the opinion of petty . coins are to be regarded rather as the property of the public than of individuals . they pass freely from hand to hand among all classes ; and their weight is diminished by the wear they undergo , and sometimes also ( as was especially the case in 1690 ) by the fraudulent practices of clippers and others . but it would be most unjust to make the present holders of coins responsible for their wear during the previous twenty or thirty years , or for the depredations practised upon them in the teeth of the law by knaves and swindlers . these are losses which the coins have incurred in the public service , and they should consequently be borne by the public . it is true that in carrying out this principle considerable difficulties have sometimes had to be encountered . previously to the great recoinage of 1696-99 , the practice of clipping the coin was carried to a great height . and it was contended that if a proclamation were issued , calling in the coins in circulation by a certain day that they might be exchanged for new coins of full weight , a corresponding premium would be offered to the clippers to redouble their activity in the interval . and as this was the course adopted on the occasion referred to , the anticipated result was realized to the fullest extent . it is believed , indeed , that the coins lost as much by clipping between the period when it was announced that they would be called in and exchanged for new coins , and their exchange for the same , as they had done in the course of the preceding ten or twelve years . ( leake's english money , 2nd ed. p. 391 , &c. ) but it is very improbable that a loss of this sort will have to be again made up , inasmuch as milled coins , which are now exclusively in use , are little susceptible of being clipped . and it may further be observed , that the loss experienced in 1696-99 , from the circumstances already mentioned , might have been in great measure obviated had government taken upon itself the responsibility of the coinage , and quietly prepared a supply of coins at the mint sufficient to enable them at once to call down those in circulation . the recoinage of 1696-99 , notwithstanding the great expense and difficulty with which it was effected , proved on the whole a failure . this , however , was not a consequence of anything immediately connected with the coinage , but is entirely to be ascribed , as will be afterwards seen , to the over-valuation of gold as compared with silver . a collection of some papers writ upon several occasions concerning clipt and counterfeit money, and trade, so far as it relates to the exportation of bullion / by dr. hugh chamberlain. chamberlen, hugh. 1696 approx. 25 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a31618 wing c1870 estc r35802 15563778 ocm 15563778 103766 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a31618) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103766) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1184:1) a collection of some papers writ upon several occasions concerning clipt and counterfeit money, and trade, so far as it relates to the exportation of bullion / by dr. hugh chamberlain. chamberlen, hugh. [2], 17 p. printed for benj. tooke ..., london : 1696. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england. monetary policy -england. counterfeits and counterfeiting -england. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a collection of some papers writ upon several occasions , concerning clipt and counterfeit money , and trade , so far as it relates to the exportation of bullion . by dr. hugh chamberlain . london : printed for benj. tooke , at the middle temple-gate in fleetstreet . 1696. a collection of some papers writ upon several occasions , &c. some few considerations supposed useful , concerning the vote of the house of commons , friday the 24th of february , upon the bill for the hindring the exportation of gold and silver , and the melting down the coyn of the realm ; humbly proposed by dr. hugh chamberlain , to the wisdom of the honourable house of commons . gold and silver , as all other commodities , whether foreign or domestick , must be considered with respect to their real natural value and market-price , which are both very variable , and not to be governed by laws . the real natural value of all commodities , is the expence of labour , charge , and hazard , in raising and bringing the same to a market , and this varies it accordingly ; for gold doth not cost so much in peru or guiny , as it doth in london , paris , or amsterdam . the market-price varies according to the multitude or paucity of chapmen , and the plenty or scarcity of the commodities . first , the multitude or paucity of chapmen happens according to their several necessities and pleasures in the use of commodities : thus we see ( where gold is not the measure of trade , as in some parts of the east and west-indies , and in africk ) iron is much more valuable , because they have much occasion for the one , and little or no use for the other , neither for vessels , ornaments , nor money . so likewise ( tho gold should cost you 3 l. per ounce , if you can find but few chapmen , and your necessities compel you to sell ) you must take 2 l. if you can get no more . and ( if it should cost you but 2 l. per ounce , if there are many merchants ) you may fell it for 3 l. 10 s. more or less ; for 't is not what charge it stands you in , but the greater or lesser number that hath occasion for it , which alters and raiseth the price . secondly , the plenty and scarcity of commodity also varies the price , tho much above or below the natural value . thus a piece of bread of a penny natural value , is oft sold in a siege for 5 s. and on the contrary , a diamond formerly sold for 10 l. when scarce , hath by clogging the market yeilded but 5 l. tho possibly less than the charge expended , which is the natural value . thirdly , nothing can possibly bring gold or silver , being of foreign growth , into england , but the exportation of commodities of our own growth or manufacture ; or what our natives can return from foreign service for their labour ; or what foreign travellers spend here to see the country , &c. fourthly , nothing can possibly carry our gold and silver out of england , but the consuming more foreign commodities at prime cost , than we get in value for the sale of our exported merchandize ; or what foreign merchants and mechanicks by their labour and thrift can save here to return to their own country ; or what our nobility and gentry spend abroad in their travels ; or what our ambassadors ▪ foreign ministers , or our armies in foreign countries , or mercinary allies draw out of the nation . so that 't is neither changing the denomination of our coin higher or lower , above or under the natural value and market-price of the material ( which quantity and use will regulate ) can either gain , keep , or drive away our gold and silver , but only the abovmentioned ballance of trade , over or under , which , like necessity , will over-rule all laws . fifthly , that which makes the variety of value here at home betwixt gold , silver , and bullion , is the disproportion among themselves , according as they exceed the proportion setled by the standard , in use or quantity . for example , when there is more use for gold , or less quantity in proportion than for silver , gold shall be dear , and exceed the standard in the market-price , tho the natural value continues the same . and when there is more use for silver , or less quantity in proportion than for gold , silver shall be dear , and exceed the standard in the market-price , tho the natural value were the same . and when there is more use for plate than for money , plate shall be dearest ▪ and exceed the standard in value ; and coyning shall not only stand still , but very oft the coyn shall be melted down . for if the quantity of gold exceeds ( in proportion ) the silver , gold shall be cheap . if silver exceeds gold , silver shall be cheap : if money exceeds plate , money shall be cheap : if plate exceeds money , plate shall be cheap . and tho money still retains the same denomination , it doth not always the same value , being also over-ruled by the plenty or scarcity of other commodities ; for a crown is not of the same value when it will purchase but half a bushel of wheat , as when it can a whole one ; there being then either less corn , or more need of it , or more chapmen that come with more money ; but this variety is no prejudice to the nation , in respect of the quantity of gold and silver ; for when we have more money , we have so much the less plate ; and if more in plate , we have the less in money . but notwithstanding it is a very great damage to trade , because money is living riches , plate but dead ; that being capable of turning and improving trade , when this is not . the nobilities hoarding and carrying of gold in their pockets , and the great gaming with gold , will raise the price above silver , tho the proportion remains the same . from the premises may be concluded , that raising the value of our money cannot keep it , tho it may give our merchants some trouble to adjust the par in their exchange and trade abroad . nor lowering it cannot drive it away , without bringing as much or more in the room ; but if we take no care to exceed in exportations , all we can do will never keep our money ; and if we do exceed in exportations , all foreigners can do , can never draw it away . exportations should be sufficient to answer the charges that foreign payments of allies , armies , ambassadors , english travellers , and returning strange dealers requires , as well as importing foreign commodities , or we must still decline . which regulation of trade 't is humbly conceived , may well deserve the serious care of this honourable house . this duty i thought i ow'd my country , and hope 't will give no offence . if i have been mistaken , i 'll thank any that will rectify me . london : printed in the year 1693. and reprinted december 1695. some considerations upon the necessity of calling in the clipt and counterfeit money . written some time since . the clipt and counterfeit money now current in the nation , is a loss must certainly fall somewhere ; and the longer deferr'd , the greater it will prove ; whence will naturally arise three considerations . first , how to prevent the increase of it for the future ? secondly , where to place this loss with most justice and conveniency ? thirdly , what new measures can be prudently taken to repair this loss to the nation ? upon the first enquiry , it cannot be much amiss to premise , that money counterfeited and clipt in england is , per se , no loss to the nation , tho 't is to particulars ; nay , it may by chance be a gain to the nation . but all that is clipt and counterfeited beyond the sea , and imported , is not only a damage to particulars , but a dead loss to the nation , which importation can notwithstanding be no ways prevented as long as clipt and counterfeit money is suffered to be current , which therefore becomes , per accidens , a mischief . the only remedy therefore is , to cry down on the same day throughout the nation , all the clipt and counterfeit money which shall not be brought in within twenty four hours after such publick notice , that so there may be no time for either further clipping or counterfeiting , at least , not beyond sea , which is by much the greater mischief . let such money be paid into the chamber of the adjacent corporations , and into the county courts , where each person must have an authentick receipt of the monies so paid in by tale , and not by weight or goodness . the second enquiry is , where to place the loss ? even upon the whole nation ; for ( since it is impossible to make the foreign and domestick offenders refund ) it seems unjust to charge it upon other innocent particular persons , as well as unreasonable to undo a few with a burthen which the whole nation can hardly feel : unless the government should think fit to charge some small matter , as five per cent ▪ or thereabouts upon particulars , because few will suffer much thereby , except the great money'd men , who can best bear it . in the putting this into practice , great care must be taken , that there be no incouragement given to clip the money remaining whole , and pouring in a great quantity of false money . and secondly , that the people may not , tho for never so small a time , be unfurnish'd with market-money for present indispensable occasions . to prevent the first , the calling it all in in one and the same day throughout england , seems the likeliest means and for the second , that either all the silver plate some weeks before the prohibition be called in to be coined , weight for weight , and sent down to the several county treasuries , to be changed for indispensable necessaries , together with pence , farthings , and half ▪ pence in copper , coined on purpose without ●raud or deceit , according to the value allowed , upon a high penalty . and to compel persons to bring in their silver plate to be coined , 6 d. per ounce may be laid upon all plate uncoined . or else that five shilling tickets of credit be dispersed payable in three or six months , instead of coining the plate , and to be in the mean time current by act of parliament . in answer to the last inquiry , how the nation may find some amends ? it may be considered , whether 't is not fit that no tax whatever , except parish rates , be paid for one whole year next ensuing : or but half taxes for two years : or quarter taxes for four years , for the government may be as effectually supplied by voluntary methods another way . every county and corporation may chuse trustees for this purpose after the very same manner , as parliament men are chosen . the high price of guineas at the present seems to be , what it really is , a great grievance ; but yet it is no more capable of being reduced or fixed by law , than a cuckow to be hedged in ; for necessity , and the natural value will always over-rule , which follows the plenty or scarcity of silver in proportion to other commodities , or to its several uses and demands . the best remedy is to make gold and silver more plentiful , and keep both to their due standard , which will bring down their price without a law , tho the denomination ought by no means to admit of an alteration : or else to make them both less useful , and less necessary ; for whatever is scarce , or so in proportion to its uses , must ever be dear , nothing but a prudent ballance of trade can possibly increase our gold or silver : and nothing can render its uses less necessary , than a well-established land-credit . money-credit cannot do it , and reputation-credit cannot only less do it , but is more dangerous . the hinderance of the importation of bullion , or the imprudent permission of its exportation , are to be more lamented than the loss of ten times the value of other commodities . for , first , 't is the measure of all the rest . secondly , 't is equally courted by all civiliz'd nations , and can yield but such a limited increase , when as all other commodities may be increased according to the debet or demands . thirdly , all other commodities end with the consumer , but money still lives , and the more hands it runs through , the better ; so that in a sense the use doth not destroy it , as it doth other commodities , but leaves it as it were immortal . a method to prevent the exportation of bullion . first , let the trade at home be regulated . secondly , let all or the greatest part of our foreign expences of money ( especially for the army , if still there remains a necessity of keeping any abroad beyond our stipulated quota ) be changed into a supply of all necessaries for them from hence . thirdly , let our trade at sea be protected . to perform the first . let an exact ballance betwixt our importations and exportations be strictly maintained , that the first may by no means exceed the last ; and therefore let a high custom , almost equal to a prohibition , be laid on all foreign manufactures not absolutely necessary , as wines , fruit , lace , wrought silks , very fine linnen , dutch ware , &c. and in the room introduce the fashion of wearing cloaths of english manufactures , tho they may without publick damage be adorned richly ( if you please ) with jewels . and also of using only english houshold stuff , tho much plate may be admitted : and of living upon english food , tho improved to the height for goodness , cleanliness , and health . let no foreign manufactures be suffer'd to be worn here , but rather invite and encourage foreign artists to come and inhabit here . one foreigner employed by us beyond sea , doth the nation more hurt than five hundred inhabiting here . to perform the second . tho the home-charge should hereby be never so much increased ; all necessaries for our army , upon which they spend their money , must ( if possible ) be provided here , and sent over to them , as cloaths , victuals , beer , bread , cheese , butter , &c. likewise all materials for our train may be transported hence , which may be easily done if we send stores , and provide magazines there . let frugality abroad be encouraged in the officers and army , tho left to their liberty here at home , not excepting the king's equipage , which his majesty may be petitioned to defray with his foreign revenue , and his home expence with the english ; and if we must also pay the allies , let it be in woollen manufacture , lead , tin , &c. tho it should arise to double the value , for that will keep our money , and imploy our poor at home . to perform the third . let a joint stock of merchants , or of the general office of land-credit provide a fleet , and defray all the expence thereof , for which the state may be pleased to grant only 20 per cent. for nine years , without paying the principal sum disbursed on that occasion . and let only the third of the complement of the said fleet be able seamen ; soldiers , land-men , boys , and disabled seamen , will serve for the rest . let the prizes , paying one tenth part to the king ▪ be disposed of by the undertakers , &c. of which every seaman in the action shall have his just share . let all that serve in the fleet be exempted from being impress'd , and have their standing posts in the royal-navy according to their seniority , and the benefit of hospitals , pensions , &c. as others , these being in the nations service , as much as those seamen imployed by the government . the undertakers and managers of the joynt-stock , with some merchants , may serve as an admiralty for this fleet. let the officers be chosen by the undertakers , and recieve their commissions from the admiralty . when our trade shall be regulated and protected , we shall have larger exportations , and consequently import more bullion than now . it is humbly offered to serious consideration . that all clipt money should pass at the former value , provided the present weight be stampt upon it at the mint . that all false money shall pass , having a stamp upon it hard and chargeable to be counterfeited , till called in and made good by authority . that bad money thus made current , and hindred from increasing , will make a quick trade , and equal a small sum by frequent circulation to a great sum which moves slow . if by this means , money can be prevented from being clipt , and counterfeit money from being made , 't is the speediest and easiest redress without danger . that there can be no better reason pretended for exporting bullion , but the norway and east-india trade , which ought to be regulated , if not thought fit to be prevented : but if there must necessarily be exportation , 't is better to export it coined , and to have the nation bear the coinage charge , by which manufacture some will be here imployed ; the credit of our coyn abroad will be some honour , and nothing but the coinage lost , which is among our selves , and 't is likelier to return when coined than uncoined . and if the merchant hath the same weight and fineness out of the tower as he brought in , every one will bring it thither , let it be at what price it will abroad . and when more can be got by our english commodities than by money , none will export money , and , that none may be , we ought to lessen the consumption , if not totally forbid the use of foreign commodities , and save or lessen our foreign expence . many treatises have been writ on this subject , some give us the history of coyn not altogether unuseful ; some are drest mathematically , that their assertions may seem the more cogent , but many of them are besides the mark : which is only to provide , that our native and manufactured commodities exoprted may exceed the value of all foreign consumable commodities imported , as much as , or more than our foreign expence of armies , &c. amounts to , and then gold and silver must of necessity be brought back to ballance the overplus , and this no law nor cunning can hinder , and without this care no law nor cunning can preserve us . for suppose we should call two crowns but five shillings , no home nor foreign trader could come by this five shillings , but for ten shillings worth of goods or labour , and then 't is the same thing . and suppose we should call one crown ten shilling , no home or foreign trader will let us have but five shillings worth of goods or labour for the same ; so that 't is not calling money by a higher or lower denomination alters the value , but what it can purchase . have the bank-dollers in holland been altered in their name or weight by the rise of bullion there , which some report to be risen , tho others deny it ? nor is there more or better reason here to alter our standard . so that nothing can keep or export our money but a ballance , and that will and must against all law and trick whatsover . to the honourable the house of commons , a proposal for making good the light and clipt money ; bumbly tendered by dr. hugh chamberlain . the said doctor for some years last past made several advantagious proposals to this house , for passing currant credit upon valuable pledges . one of which was in february ( 93 ) , reported by a committee of the house of commons , practicable , and tending to the benefit of the nation . that divers persons have this session made to this honourable house proposals evidently built upon the doctor 's foundation , as can easily be made appear , when commanded . the doctor relying upon the justice of this house for a preference , in case his proposal be but equal to those ; and depending upon their wisdom ( in case the same be more advantagious ) therefore humbly submits to this honourable house what follows . first , that for all clipt and light money brought into the exchequer , bills of current-credit shall be by order of the lords of the treasury , issued out of the office of land-credit , payable according to the direction of this honourable house , at three months certain from the date of such orders . secondly , that all the new money , so fast as minted , may be paid into the said office of land-credit , to answer the said bills , issued by such orders of the lords of the treasury . thirdly , that since this house hath thought fit to vote but twelve hundred thousand pounds to make good the clipt money , the said office of land-credit humbly offers to perform the same for sixty thousand pounds per annum , for thirty years ; or an hundred and twenty thousand pounds per annum , for fifteen years ; which is either five per cent. per annum , for thirty years ; or ten per cent. per annum , for fifteen years , without payment of the principal sum. and this proposal comprehends all the advantages offered by mr. briscoe , at two fifths cheaper to the nation : but if that gentleman ( as some report ) shall fall from his first proposal of one hundred thousand pounds , to seventy five thousand per ann. for forty years , which will then be after the rate of four pounds thirteen shillings and eight pence , per cent. per ann. or five per cent. per ann. wanting one sixteenth part for the forty years , yet will this proposal still be one fifth in the whole cheaper to the nation than his , and this may be redeemed at any time whenever the parliament shall please . fourthly , 't is humbly hoped , that this , being no small service at this time to the nation , shall not want , at least , an equal encouragement from the government with the bank of england ; it being on far better terms than mr. briscoe's , and as much superior to his , as his to the bank of england . fifthly , that if the house shall think fit to enlarge their allowance for clipt and light money , and to grant their charitable relief to such poor persons as through mistake and ignorance receive counterfeit money , the said office will undertake at the same rate of five per cent. for thirty years , or ten per cent. for fifteen years , to perform the same : which great charity of this honourable house may preserve abundance of poor families from extreme misery , otherwise inevitable to them ; their all often consisting in such counterfeit money . that the doctor , in the infancy of this increase of counterfeit money , did humbly insinuate to divers members of the late parliament , the dangerous and chargeable consequences , that , unless timely prevented , were likely then to ensue , and have since but too truly been verified ; he now presumes to offer to the consideration of this honourable house , with all dutiful deference to their great wisdom , that if some effectual provision be not immediately made , for the employing and maintaining the poor , the mischievous consequences that may ensue the neglect of it , may possibly prove fatal . to avoid which danger , proposals may be humbly offered , whenever this honourable house will please to command . finis . the reader is desired not to be offended , if he meets with frequent repetitions in these papers , but to consider they were written at several times , as occasion required . a dialogue between a countrey gentleman and a merchant concerning the falling of guinea's wherein the whole agrument relating to our money is discuss'd. 1696 approx. 37 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a33407 wing c4637 estc r35647 15508946 ocm 15508946 103609 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33407) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103609) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1148:43) a dialogue between a countrey gentleman and a merchant concerning the falling of guinea's wherein the whole agrument relating to our money is discuss'd. clement, simon. 22 p. printed by john atwood for samuel crouch ..., london : 1696. attributed by wing to simon clement. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england. foreign exchange -history -17th century. gold standard -history -17th century. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-08 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 jason colman sampled and proofread 2006-09 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a dialogue between a countrey gentleman and a merchant , concerning the falling of guinea's : wherein the whole argument relating to our money is discuss'd . london , printed by john astwood for samuel crouch , at the corner of popes-head-alley in cornhill , 1696. a dialogue between a countrey gentleman and a merchant , &c. merchant . sir , you are well met : pray when came you to town ? and what 's the best news in the countrey ? gentleman . i came to town last night , sir , but for news i have none good : we are quite confounded , and know not what to do either in receiving or paying of guinea's ; and we think you citizens are to blame for petitioning the parliament to have them brought down , when if they were let alone they would pass more currently than any money we have at 30 s. a piece , and every one would be quiet and contented . merch. ay , sir , but we see further than you do in this matter , and therefore cannot be contented , because we know we shall have no silver left in a little while , if guinea's are kept up above the old value . gent. we have silver little enough already , tho' gold be plentier than ever 't was , and d' ye think they won't carry that away too when we shall lower it ? what is it keeps it here now , and brings us in more , but our making it pass for more than 't will in any other countrey ? i think if we were wise , we should raise our silver also , and so keep both at home . merch. well sir , since that 's your opinion , and it seems so plausible , that i doubt a great many more lye under the same mistake , i 'le try if i can bring you to a righter understanding of this matter ; in order whereto , i 'le first ask you , what d' ye think our silver has been carried away for ? and for what will it continue to be sent away ? gent. we think it goes to pay the army in flanders , and that more will goe , 'till we have none lest , if some better care ben't taken . merch. don't you see the parliament finds it for our safety to maintain the war abroad , and therefore do appropriate part of the taxes every year for the payment of the army ; and would you then have the king keep the money at home in his exchequer , and let that part of the army that is abroad starve the while ? gent. god forbid ; i had much rather pay towards the maintaining an army abroad , than let the french come and plunder us at home , and at last reduce us into french slavery . then we must be forc'd to pay what they will please to take , and now no more can be taken from us than what we by our own consents in parliament give . but why can't we send out goods , our own manufactories , to pay our army , and keep our money at home ? merch. you may be assur'd that we do yearly send as much goods as the forreign markets will take off , but we can't force 'em to buy more than their occasions require : and as matters stand now , that is not enough to supply all we want ? gent. but i have heard that money may be remitted by bills of exchange , and so we need not send away our silver and gold merch. you must know , sir , that bills of exchange will signifie nothing , unless we put a value in the persons hands on whom we draw to pay them withall : now as i told you before , if all the goods which our neighbours can take off from us be not of value sufficient to pay to pay all the money we have occasion to use there , if we draw bills for above the produce of our goods , we must send silver or gold to pay our bills , there being no other way to enable our correspondents to do it . gent. well , sir , i am now satisfied that it is not possible for us to maintain our army abroad , without sending out some of our silver and gold ; that is to say , so much as the goods our neighbours buy of us fall short of raising the value we want in those countries ; but i should have thought that this difference could not have been so great , as to have required such large quantities as they say have been sent . merch. now you bring me to the matter ; and as i have been telling you , that the produce of our trade abroad is not at this time sufficient to pay for all the forreign commodities which we bring home for our own expence , and maintain our army also , yet as you have well guess'd , that occasion would not have drein'd our silver so fast , but 't is the vast stock of gold that hath been brought over , hath robb'd us of great quantities of our silver . gent. why , sir , is it matter of complaint , that we have plenty of gold brought into the kingdom ? are we not so much the richer for it ? how can that rob us of our silver ? merch. we should indeed be the richer , if we imported gold as the produce of our trade , and not at an over-value ; but i see , sir , your understanding is not quite opened in this matter ; pray consider , if we could not before pay our army without sending out some silver , do you think that forreigners gave us their gold for nothing ? or will you not rather believe our silver went to pay sor't ? gent. i now see what you drive at , 't is to shew me that much of our silver hath been sent abroad to buy gold ; but i have been told that forreigners sent their gold hither to buy goods , and i know the countrey had a brisk trade all the last summer in selling their manufactories at extraordinary rates . merch. the matter doth indeed look so , but it 's all a fallacy , and i 'll shew you plainly how this business proceeded ; and there 's too much reason to doubt that 't was projected amongst our selves , by some persons who would let slip no opportunity of raising their own private fortunes , though it were to the ruine of the publick ; for we saw plainly that the guinea's were rais'd upon us the beginning of last summer by artifice , and 't was at first given out that they would soon come to 30 s. the pretence for it being the badness of our money ; immediately upon this we had great store of gold brought over in all the men of war and yatchts that came from holland , not only in guineas , but also in the coins of holland , germany , denmark , and all those adjacent countries . these traders in gold then fell to buying up the silver so fast , that in a little time they run it up from 5 s. 8 d. to 6 s. 9 d. or 7 s. per ounce ; and as that rose , they struck in for all the bills of exchange they could find , and those were presently brought to above 25 per cent. loss to us . t is true , that the badness of our money gave some reason for this : but 't is observable , that before these guinea-jobbers did by such means administer the occasion , people did not begin to disesteem the value of our money , but did as it were rely upon the honour of the government to make good the deficiency at sometime or other : then they fell upon buying up our manufactures , or any thing else they could lay their hands on , for which they could put off their guinea's amongst us , and hope to sell it again in some country or other for silver , tho' it were at a lower price then it cost them . it 's true , that our people were not so silly as not to make an advance upon their commodities , when they saw such a demand : yet even that advance was less than the worth of their goods , when they were paid in guinea's at 30 s. and you 'll find at last that this was but a bad trade for the kingdom , when you come to consider that all the bills or silver these gold-traders sent over , was what would otherwise have gone to supply the king's occasions , who must send so much silver the more in lieu thereof ; and that the great advance upon all forreign exchanges which was chiefly occasioned thereby , was some hundreds of thousand pounds loss to the nation , not only in the aforesaid occasion of paying our army , but also in the maintaining of our fleet abroad , and furnishing that at home with naval stores , which must cost the dearer perhaps by one third part : that all these goods of ours , were not bought up to supply the demands of any forreign market , but do yet lye the greatest part of them on hand , and you may now buy them cheaper in holland than here , so that we must not expect any great demand for our manufactures 'till this glut is gone off ; and in the end , i doubt the nation must lose little less than a million of money by the fall of this dear bought gold , altho' those persons that have taken care to put off their gold in time , may bear little of this loss . gent. i now see plainly that our suffering so great a rise upon guinea's , hath been very prejudicial to us ; but now since they are up , why can't we keep them up , and save all that loss ? merch. to answer you to that , you must consider , that whatever people may form in their imaginations , there is as it were a standard for the value of gold , which is pretty nearly assented to by most of the people of europe ; and the highest proportion it bears to silver is as one to sixteen ; and our guinea at 21 s. 6 d. is the extent of that : now then if we should continue to value our gold above this proportion , our new money would infallibly be sent away as fast as it comes out of the mint to buy more gold , where it can be done to profit : and i can assure you , that at this time somewhat less than sour of our new crowns , and two shillings , will buy a guinea in holland ; and is it not plain then that these people will continue this trade as long as they can get profit by it , and that when gold is reduced to its true value , their trade must cease . gent. but if we rais'd our silver in proportion to the gold , they could not then make profit in sending it abroad to buy gold. merch. that 's true , sir , but we should by that means run the nation into as great , nay , greater mischiefs . gent. how can that be ? for if we are content to take it so amongst our selves , and could buy the same quantity of provisions or cloathing as we do now for 30 s. when five crowns were made to pass for 30 s. where 's the harm on 't ? merch. if it were to be imagined , that we could be entirely separated from the rest of the world , and should have nothing to do with other countries , it might do well enough ; but as we are people as largely concerned in trade and commerce as almost any other , we must have regard to other nations in this matter . gent. why , sir , i am told that the price of silver is risen amongst all our neighbour countries . merch. how d' ye mean risen , sir ? gent. that our crown is really worth 6 s. or more , of their money . merch. which is downright non-sence ; you 'll pardon me , sir , i intend no reflection upon you but upon the absurdity of the notion , and the broachers of it , being sorry to see how much it hath obtain'd upon many honest gentlemen , who are not acquainted with forreign affairs ; and i will convince you of the inconsistency of it , by undeniable arguments . you must know then , that there is no such thing as six pounds , six shillings , or six-pence , ( understanding the same value by it as we do ) in any part of the world , but under the english monarchy . the french make their computation by livres , sols and deniers , the dutch by guilders , stivers and groots ; in like manner all other governments have denominations , or valuations for their money , peculiar to themselves : now these are only as forreign languages , not understood but by such as are conversant in them ; but people that are concern'd in forreign trade soon come to understand this money language , and are able as it were to translate it into the language of their own countrey ; so that if one english man would ask another that is a trader , what a french crown was wont to pass at in france ? he would be apt to answer him according to his understanding in english , that it pass'd for 4 s. 6 d. because the silver in such a piece is worth nearest that value in our coin , yet the most proper answer would be , that it passes for three livers , or sixty sols , but then that would have been all forreign language , and unintelligible to him : in like manner an inhabitant of france would be as much puzled , if you should tell him that an english crown passes for 5 s. but if you tell him 't is worth 3 livers and 6 sols , he understands you presently , and 't is after this manner that the mistake of calling the coins of one country after the denomination of another is introduc'd . but now you 'll readily agree with me , that if the french king should raise the denomination of his crown , and cause it to pass among his own people for 4 livers , we should still esteem it worth no more than 4 s. 6 d. as we did before , because it had nothing added to its former weight of silver ; so that in reality the true value of money is only to be reckoned by the weight of the silver and gold that it bears , and t is altogether needless for us to trouble our heads with the nice distinction of extrinsic , intrinsic , and real value , for it must all be resolv'd into this one proposition of weight , every man's or nation 's riches being truly to be measured , according to the more or less weight of silver which they possess : and that i may give you an infallible demonstration that silver is only a standard to its self , and as such , is not capable of being rais'd or lower'd with respect to forreigners : if you should carry an ounce of fine silver into holland , in expectation of profit , do you think that a dutch-man would give you an ounce of his fine silver , and a penny weight more , for your encouragement to come again : you may certainly resolve your self that no nation is so foolish . gent. this , sir , seems so reasonable , that i know not how to argue against it , but yet we find it otherwise in fact amongst our selves ; for your self told me just now , that silver had been risen from 5 s. 8 d. to 6 s. 9 d. and 7 s. per ounce . merch. you 'll please to note , sir , that i had the caution to say , that it could not rise ( in that sence ) with respect to forreigners ; and yet i 'll make it as plain to you , that ( excepting a small matter ) silver is not really capable of rising and falling amongst our selves ; for this seeming and nominal advance upon it was indeed no advance at all , for you must note , that he that bought silver at 7 s. per ounce , was to pay for 't either in guinea's at 30 s. ( and in that sort of payment his ounce of silver was indeed worth about 7 s. 3 d. ) or in the clipt and counterfeit money , of which perhaps the true value of what was call'd 7 s. might not be 4 s. but you may assure your self , that none of these buyers of silver would give a new mill'd crown and a 6 d. for an ounce of silver , because they know how to throw them into the melting pot , and bring out above the weight of an ounce ; and this rule is so certain , that it can never vary more than such a value , as people will be content to give for silver when they have occasion to transport it , rather than incur the danger of the law by melting down , or transporting the currant coin ; and that difference ( when our currant money was good ) hath rarely been known to be more than 3 d. or 4 d. per ounce : if you should yet have the least scruple , pray try whether you can by any sort of reasoning perswade your self , that an ounce of ●nncoyn'd silver can have more real value in it than an ounce of silver of the same fineness coyn'd into money , as a late ingenious author hath well observed . gent. sir , i thank you , you have effectually convinc'd me in this poinr , the matter is self evident . merch. yet before i have quite done with this argument , i would shew you in what sense silver may be said to rise in its esteem , and that is only when any countrey may be brought to such a want of it , as they must be content to part with their product or manufactures for a less weight of it than formerly , which if riches is to be reckon'd from the plenty of gold and silver , is an infallible sign that such a countrey is declin'd in its riches , and growing poor . but this is not the case of our neighbours the dutch , with whom some people would have us think that silver is grown dearer ; for on the contrary , we rather give more weight of silver for their commodities than formerly . and this leads me on to shew you how , if we should be once reduc'd to a necessity of raising the denomination of our coin , it might be truly said of us , that we are not only grown poorer , but should be in a manner put out a of condition to recover riches again ; for however indifferent it might seem to countrey gentlemen to submit to the raising of our crown to pass for 6 s. because that 6 s. might buy as much provision or cloathing as it would when the money was at the old weight , and therefore seems to be no inconvenience , if we were content amongst our selves ; yet the matter will appear to be far otherwise , when we come to consider our selves as a trading nation , and that national riches are no otherwise to be acquired but by our commerce with forreigners ; and to shew you after what manner this advance of our money would affect us in that respect , i will suppose that a forreigner brings hither 20 ounces of silver , which ( to avoid fractions ) i will call 20 crowns , or five pounds , and with this he buys 10 yards of our cloth : the next year he returns again with the like quantity of silver , and finds that we have alter'd the denomination of our money , and will allow him 6 l. for his 20 ounces , so that he can then have 12 yards of the same sort of cloth for the same weight of silver , which the year before bought him but 10 yards : is it not plain that we hereby give away , or lose two yards of cloth in ten ? or to put it the other way , will not this lessen the whole produce of our nation with respect to forreigners full one fifth part ? altho' we must pay as much silver for all that we buy of them as we now do . an unhappy device : and sure all men that love their countrey , when they shall come thus to understand it , will oppose such a design with all their power . but i would have you consider its consequences a little further ; as we compute the value of our estates by money , the man that hath an estate in land , which would now sell for 1200 l. which i 'll compute at 4800 ounces of silver , if he should come to sell it after the money should be so advanc'd , will the money he should receive then , altho' they call it 1200 l. weigh above 4000 ounces ? he that hath 600 l. or 2400 ounces per ann. in leas'd rents , will this new money bring to his coffers more than 2000 ounces ? and though he hath 600 l. in name , hath he not certainly lost a 100 l. in value ? is not this a plain robbing the landed-man of one fifth part of his estate or substance ? in like manner , if a man hath lent 120 l. or 480 ounces at interest , should he receive any more than 400 ounces of silver for his 120 l. and would he not utterly lose the 80 ounces ? a man that by his good husbandry us'd to lay up 60 l. or 240 ounces of silver yearly , towards the encreasing of his estate , or raising portions for his children , must he not lose the 6 th . part of his industry , when he shall come to have but 200 ounces , that is 40 ounces of silver less than his old 60 l. would have yielded him . in short , would it not be a lowering the whole value of all the rest of the nation in that proportion , for no other end but to advantage those men as much who had large hoards of money by them ? but i should not omit to shew how it will touch the publick : if the king hath now occasion to use two millions yearly abroad for the payment of the army , the fleet in the streights , and providing naval stores , &c. when the money should be thus rais'd , and would weigh one sixth part less , will forreigners think you abate him one ounce of the old weight of what he shall send in silver ? and will not the merchant that furnishes him with bills have as much more money in tale as will make good the old weight , because he must pay by that weight abroad ? and is it not then plain , that this part of the king's money will fall short by one third part of a million ? and must not this naturally heighten the next years tax ? thus then it must affect us at home , and i think i need use no more words to shew you that forreigners do not at all regard the raising the denominations of the coyn of their neighbours , and will never esteem it otherwise than by its weight ; for which reason 't is a great folly to think , if ( as is beforesaid ) we shall continue to have occasion to use more money in forreign countreys than we can put there by the produce of our trade , that we can avoid sending so much silver or gold as will make up the ballance in its value by weight , although we should double or trebble the denomination of our coyn amongst our selves . gent. but , sir , as you have grounded the main of the argument upon a supposition that our goods would continue to be bought for the same number of pounds , shillings and pence , as before the raising of the money ; suppose we raise our commodities proportionably , and make the stranger pay 12 s. for a yard of the same cloath he bought before for 10 s. shall we not then keep up our markets abroad , and bring home as much silver for our manufactures as before ? and would not all things run as smooth at home , when we sold every thing from one to another as much higher in price as the difference of the money ? merch. what good would it then do us to raise the denomination of our money , if we must then give just so much more for every thing we buy ? is not this puzling our selves to no purpose , if it should have no worse effect ? but i thought i had shewn you clearly , that all our debts , the rents arising from lands leass'd out , the king's revenue , &c. would then be paid in so much a less proportion of silver , and then the king , creditors and land-holders will be in a fine condition , when they must receive all that is due to them in a lesser value , and yet pay the old value for all they buy ; would not this be plainly the doing a great deal of injustice and injury to a great many , and doing real good to none ? but yet i 'll tell you , sir , 't is my opinion that it would be more likely that our product and manufactures would by degrees fall to the old denominations of price , for that i have observ'd it to have had that consequence in other nations , where this trick of raising their money hath been practis'd ; and shall we not then infallibly fall under the mischief of beggering our selves , as i have formerly shewn you ? gent. i must confess this raising our money doth seem to be attended with many inconveniencies , with respect to our selves , but i have been told the nation is greatly in debt to forreigners , who would be apt to carry away our new money , as fast as coin'd , to pay themselves , should we not by this means prevent them , and by paying our debts with less money save so much to the nation ? merch. if we are in debt to forreigners , we are doubtless obliged to them for the credit they have given us , and ought we not in prudence as well as justice to be tender in preserving that credit , least if we should ever hereafter have the like occasion , we should find no nation that would trust us . doubtless it ought to be the greatest care of governments to prevent as much as possible the running into debt , but if such debts are once contracted , it highly concerns them that they be discharg'd punctually , justly and honourably , otherwise they loose their reputation with all the world , as a great nation that might be named hath too apparently done . 't is not to be doubted that some forreigners have been large contributors towards the great summs that have been paid into our exchequer upon the million adventure , the lives , and other funds , and all that money was paid in fair and true value , before the cheat of guinea's , and the advancing the exchanges : neither can these people withdraw this money , as is suggested , for they can only receive the interest accrewing by it , as it comes in gradually . can any man then that hath the least regard to justice and honour entertain so base a thought as to perswade the breaking through the sanction of our acts of parliament , and the falsifying our contracts , that we might pay these people in money of a less value than they really brought us ? i must indeed confess that our nation hath been greatly abus'd by the bringing in gold , and the extravagance of the exchanges this last summer , but i am much of the opinion that those traders kept turning the penny , and continually sent effects for the carrying on the trade : so that i hope though it cost us dear , yet that we cannot remain much in debt for that . and to speak my mind , i believe , if the truth were known , that trade was chiefly managed for the account of natives of our own countrey , and forreigners that live amongst us , and not of the other side of the water . and though i will not argue against our taking satisfaction of the persons that have injured us , yet i think we were better let them alone 'till we can find them out , than seek such a general revenge that may fall least upon them , and do more hurt to those kind neighbours that have done us good by trusting us with their estates , and most of all to our selves , by plunging us into those fatal mischiefs , which i have before noted . gent. sir , i must acknowledge , that you have very much opened my understanding in these things , and i am now fully convinc'd , that 't would be ruinous to us to raise our silver , and no less to hold up guinea's higher than 21 s. 6 d. if that be , as you say , about the proportion that other countries keep between them . but pray , sir , is there then no way for us to keep our army abroad , and avoid the sending out of our silver or gold to maintain them ? merch. if we could furnish our army with the greatest part of the provisions they need abroad , protect our forreign trade , lessen our expence of forreign commodities , ( which i would earnestly recommend to all gentlemen to reform as much as possible in their own families ) and manage all our affairs with such good husbandry , as to bring all our forreign charge within the compass of the value which we can put into forreign countries by the exportation of our merchandizes , we might do it , otherwise 't is impossible . for the whole matter of bringing silver into the kingdom , or carrying it out , may be resolv'd by this easie thought , if we live within the bounds of our exports , we cannot send out our money unless we will give it away for nothing ; but if we spend more than we export in goods , we must send out our silver as long as we have any , because forreigners will not furnish us with what we want longer than we pay them to the full . gent. but now , sir , since the guinea's are so largely dispers'd into the hands of the common people thro' the nation , will it not be very hard upon them to bear so great a loss ? and may it not be reasonable for the parliament to give a recompense for this loss ? merch. i would have all the tenderness possible for the people , but if they will foolishly run themselves into a loss that they had warning to have avoided , seeing the king's receivers did all along refuse to take them at the advance , they are the less to be pitied ; and 't was their easie giving way to it that made it possible for the ill men that contriv'd it to put this abuse upon the nation ; whereas if all had been of my opinion , ( not to distinguish my self from many others who were always of the same mind ) they would never have made them pass currant for 23 s. for 't was long before i would take any , and never after but when i knew where to put them away again presently . i could wish indeed that the persons who invented and promoted this trade could be found out , and made to repair the loss so far as they were able ; and it being said the parliament are passing an act , by which they will appoint commissioners to be named through the kingdom , who shall take in all the clipt and silver money , though of a baser allay , ( which hath not been paid into the king for taxes ) and give the people broad or new money in exchange for it , i think every one is much to blame who will not rather choose to take what is due to him in any sort of silver money , by which he cannot lose , than in guinea's at the present rates , because he may well expect to lose whatsoever he takes them at above 21 s. 6 d. and upon these considerations there may be good reason to believe that the parliament will not at this time lay an additional tax upon the nation to make good the deficiency of guinea's , which the people that have them have brought upon themselves , when they find so much difficulty to raise money enough to supply the unavoidable necessity of the government . and i must farther give you my opinion , that i think the people in whose hands they now are , may best bear the loss : for as to the meaner sort of people , their stock seldom reaches so high as to be possessors of guinea's ; the middle sort of people , such as farmers or tradesmen , have commonly as much occasion to pay as receive , and therefore it must be a fault in them if they have many upon their hands , and what loss may befall them they may the more contentedly bear , because 't is not to be doubted but that , ( generally speaking ) they have gotten more by the raising the prices of their goods in consideration of such pay . the greatest quantities then i should think to be now in the hands either of such who have kept them out of a covetous design of gaining by them , through a send imagination that they would rise to 35 s. or more , by the scarcity of the silver money , whilst it was passing through the mint ; or of such who have been the traders in them , neither of which deserve consideration . gent. but pray sir , have we not indeed reason to fear that we shall not have money to answer our necessary payments whilst the silver is in coyning ? merch. truly , sir , i can have no such fearful apprehensions of it , for there 's nothing to hinder any man from keeping the possession of his own proper cash , till he can change it for better , and therefore all people that have now money enough to serve their occasions , will have no need to want ; the bills and the guinea's ( which will circulate quicker than before , when the shall pass at 21 s. 6 d. and no body fear to lose by them ) will continue , as they have for some months past , to supply us in the larger payments ; and for market-money labourers wages , &c. a small quantity will serve that occasion , it being always in motion ; so that there 's not the least reason to doubt but that enough of the present money will be kept for that use , 'till better comes out to change it . gent. i heartily thank you for the great satisfaction you have given me in these difficult matters , and shall not presume to detain you with further questions . merch. i shall be very glad , sir , if i have been able to make you so far master of the argument , as that you can convince your neighbours , that there is a necessity for the falling of guinea's , if we ever desire to see the new money plenty amongst us , and that they were better contentedly to submit to the loss which will befall them when they have but ten , than to be subject to the greater loss which they must bear , if through the importation of greater quantities they should come to be possessors of fifteen ; as also , that the raising the denomination of our money must have a direct tendency to begger the nation . finis . some books lately printed for samuel crouch . an essay on the state of england , in relation to its trade , its poor , and its taxes , for carrying on the war against france . by john cary , merchant in bristol . a letter from an english merchant at amsterdam , to his friend at london , concerning the trade and coin of england . sir thomas row's speech at the council-table , about the alteration of the coin , in july 1640. with some observations thereon . some thoughts concerning the better security of our trade and navigation , and carrying on the war against france more effectually : humbly offered to consideration . some remarks on a report containining an essay for the amendment of the silver coins . by mr. william lownds . considerations , requiring greater care for trade in england , and some expedients proposed . a new discourse of trade , wherein is recommended several weighty points relating to companies of merchants , the act of navigation , naturalization of strangers , and our woolen manufactures , the balance of trade , and the nature of plantations , and their consequences , in relation to the kingdom , are seriously discussed . and some proposals for erecting a court of merchants for determining controversies relating to maritine affairs , and for a law for transferring of bills of debt are humbly offered . the second edition . by sir josiah child . a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require. humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament. with some remarks upon the bank of england, dr. chamberlain's bank, the land-bank, so called, and the national land-bank. atwood, william, d. 1705? 1695 approx. 41 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26182 wing a4181 estc r215808 99827577 99827577 31999 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26182) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 31999) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1861:25) a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require. humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament. with some remarks upon the bank of england, dr. chamberlain's bank, the land-bank, so called, and the national land-bank. atwood, william, d. 1705? 8 p. printed for roger clavel, at the peacock in fleetstreet, [london : 1695] caption title. imprint from colophon. by william atwood. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england -early works to 1800. land banks -england -early works to 1800. 2006-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-05 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a safe and easy method for supplying the want of coin , and raising as many millions as the occasions of the publick may require . humbly offered to the consideration of the present parliament . with some remarks upon the bank of england , dr. chamberlain's bank , the land-bank , so called , and the national land-bank . ego certè reip . non deero ; & quicquid acciderit , a quo mea culpa absit , animo forti feram . cic. cornificio . it cannot be denied , that the want of good coin gave rise to the several banks now on foot , by which many private persons have enriched themselves , and more probably expect it , not without benefit to the publick : it being evident , that every summ paid by bill of credit is in effect , for the time the bills do pass , so much money added to the coin of the kingdom . but it is to be presumed , that the parliament will give a check to that endless encrease of bills of credit , which , upon the failure of any of the banks to answer in specie , when generally called for , may prove a greater mischief than that which they would remedy . if therefore a way can be found to supply the want of coin by credit , and that credit to have so true a foundation , that it shall certainly be made good in specie , and that within few years , which has not been pretended to by any proposer of banks , this may at the least deserve to be considered in parliament : where what is crudely proposed may be maturely digested and improved , by the collective wisdom of the nation . wherefore it is proposed , 1. that a fund of 500000 l. per an . more or less , according to the summ to be raised , be settled for eight years , or if for a longer time , a less fund ; and this may be of such a nature , as may give general satisfaction : but to name a fund which may be rejected , might prejudice a method applicable to any good fund . 2. let the money arising by the fund be paid into an office , to be erected at london , or within the suburbs , to be called the crown-bank , or publick-bank : for which office let there be as many commissioners , or directors , as the parliament shall think fit ; they to be intrusted to appoint collectors , and other officers , and to ascertain their sallaries , and the like . 3. at that bank let there be drawn on vellom , or parchment , or thick paper , made there , and imprinted with greek , hebrew , or some other particular characters , in a mill for that purpose , so many bills from 5 l. to 100 l. signed by 5 commissioners or directors at the least , as shall make up as many millions as are wanting : let each of these tickets have its particular number , and the year expressed in which it is to be brought back into the office , and there discharged : let the peices of vellom , or parchment , or thick paper , be cut in the middle of the impression ▪ and let that part which has the other half of the impression be kept in the office , having upon it the same number with the other , and a memorandum of the summ contained in it , and be signed as the other . 4. let all the bills be current at the vallues expressed in them , and immediately pass in all payments as lawful coin , and be assignable , and to be lent out at interest as money . but if any bill be not brought * back into the office in the year appointed for it to come in , let it from thenceforth be wholly void : and after the bills have been brought in , and the money upon them paid , and the account for that year pass'd ▪ let them be cancelled . 5. let the mill where the vellom , or parchm●nt , or thick paper , is imprinted , be fram'd at the place where it is to be used . and let it be capital for the same , or any other of that kind , to be found elsewhere at any time ▪ or there unbroken after the whole number of bills making up the appointed summ , together with the counter-parts , have been once imprinted ; or for any persons to counterfeit any of the bills , or the impression on the vellom , or parchment , or paper , or so to imprint more pieces of parchment , or vellom , or paper , than the appointed number . 6. to prevent the confusion and uncertainty of hurrying in all the bills of each year at the end of each year ; let the bills of the year be brought in at any time after the first six months ; and if the money which should pay the same be not come into the office , let the commissioners or directors , give bills of credit upon vellom , or parchment , or paper , of another impression , for so much money as every bill carries , payable within six months at the farthest , with interest at 4 l. per cent. till payment . and let it be actionable , and highly penal for them to refuse or neglect payment , if there be cash for it , or not to give such bills if cash fail , or to imbezil the money , or to postpone payments , or to employ it to any other use or purpose , than the payment of the bills in the first place , next to the defraying the annual charges of the bank , and let the overplus be paid into the exchequer . 7. in case the fund shall be deficient in any year , let what is wanting to clear the bills and the charges of the office , be paid out of such money as shall be in the exchequer ; and if it be not paid before the then next parliament , let it be supplyed our of the next publick tax . 8. let the commissioners or directors at the end of every year account to the lord treasurer , or commissioners of the treasury for the time being , who are to transmit the accompt to parliament . obj. 1 if it be said , that these bills being to come in within the year for which they are appointed , will not pass abroad in foreign trade . answ . 1 if that were so , possibly it might be an argument to recommend them , as riches kept at home ; the chief topick against regulating our coin being the fear of enriching our neighbours with it . answ . 2 however , this objection would lie only against the bills which are to come back within the first year , whereas there are enough of others which may lie out some years , long enough for traficking abroad with them , and making returns , upon which the money will be received in specie . answ . 3 these bills , if they were wholly kept within the nation , as they in effect increase the money , will advance the home manufactures , enable traders to employ more hands , and so lower the interest of money , that we may buy and sell as cheap as our neighbours ; and by consequence turn the ballance of trade on our side , which is now against us , and therefore will bring mony and bullion from abroad . and this not being the only coin we have , but an increase of it ; there will be enough of silver and gold to send into foreign parts . obj. 2 if it be said that these bills may be counterfeited , or at least they who are at distance from london cannot be assured of the contrary . answ . 1 there is as much security in these bills as in any deed , which may possibly be forged ; but forgeries happen so rarely , that they work no interruption of business , and common credit ▪ answ . 2 the hands of so many commissioners being required , there can be no part of england where the hands of some of them will not be soon known . answ . 3 no true bills can fail of being paid in specie : and if the publick should be charged with some counterfeits , the loss will bring no sensible inconvenience ; nor can it bear any proportion with the vast benefit of such an encrease of the wealth of the nation , so seasonably applyed . answ . 4 no objection will lie against these bills ▪ but what will be at least equal against those of the bank of england , and all other banks ; which yet men are very ready to venture upon , with a much less certain prospect of receiving money for bills of credit , or what may yield money when they have occasion ; which leads me to the consideration of the most promising of the other banks . the bank of england has raised the king 1200000 l. and perhaps has saved him 200000 l. in the remittances of money . this has a fund of 100000 l. per an. for 12 years absolute , and for ever till redeemed by parliament ; which is in effect a perpetuity , and if employed as above for 100 years , is worth 10 millions . this bank is said to have paid 1200000 l. in to the exchequer in money and bills , before one third of it was advanced by the subscribers : and to this day but 60 l. per cent. is paid in ; and yet that 60 l. sells for 100 l. notwithstanding large dividends , and the loss perhaps of 200000 l. by the foreign exchange , besides such bills as they have publickly made known to have been counterfeited , and all wherein they have concealed their losses . this has been done by the help of bills of credit , though there could be no certainty but money might be called for faster than it came in : nor is it certain , as it would be in the crown-bank , that the credit shall not extend , not only beyond the fund , as it has already , but farther than they can answer in payments . tho foreign merchants may take their bills , because of their commerce here ; it is visible that it has not yet obtained credit with the bank at amsterdam ; for if it had , it could not have lost so much by the exchange ; nor is it to be supposed that it ever will gain full credit there , because of the extent of its credit at home beyond the real fund . doctor chamberlain's proposal as far as i can look into the mystery , is this . if a man makes over 150 l. per annum . for 150 years , to secure the payment of 100 l. yearly into his office , in money or his bank bills , for 100 years ; and also pays 1000 l. in money at 4 payments , 400 l. at setling the estate , 300 l. at the end of the first year , 200 l. at the end of the second 100 l. at the end of the third ; he shall have bills for 6000 l. including his own 1000 l. of which 1000 l. when he seals , 1100 l. at the end of the first year , 1200 l. at the end of the second , 1300 l. at the end of the third , 1400 l. at the end of the forth , besides 2000 l. in bills , which with his 400 l. advanced shall immediately be paid to the treasurer of the joint stock in trade , to which 600 l. must be added as it comes in , and the party must pay 5 ● . per cent . yearly for the whole 8000 l. for the charges of the office ; and if men will lend money , he proposes for 1000 l. to pay 1400 l. in 4 years . where its observable . 1. whereas the office pretends to but 5 ● . per cent . it is a full fifth of the whole value , for it is 2000 l. bills to the parties 8000 ● . except his own 1000 l. and 't is better than a third of what he receives to dispose of , should we admit that his bills will circulate . 2. he is so far from supposing that these bills will ever be paid in specie , that he makes no manner of provision for it , but allows the annuity , which is the fund for the bills , to be paid in bills : and so the bills are to carry themselves from the bank and to the bank , without any circulation or profit . 3. the circulation , if any , must be performed at the very beginning by one upon seven and an half , 400 l. being all that is to be paid till the end of the first year to circulate the 1000 l. in bills received by the party , and the 2000 l. in bills put to the stock of trade ; unless what is accidental upon the coming in of moneys lent , which in truth , clogg the bank with 50 ● . per annum . loss for every 1000 l. and that money will be no more than is requisite to clear incumbrances upon estates subscribed . and if any part of the 400 l. first brought in be employed in trade , that , before profitable returns , leaves the less to circulate the bills , and if half be employed in trade 1 l. must circulate 15 l. 4. if the annuities were to be paid in money , which would be very hard upon them who have the bills dead by them ; yet the distance of 100 years makes it very questionable what 150 l. per annum shall hold out 100 l. per annum in all events . 5. if this were practicable , it would be far from answering the great end which the doctor does , or ought to propound , of lessning the burthen upon land ; for either men with encumbred estates must not come in , or if they do , they will greatly abate the possibility of circulating the bills . suppose a man of 150 l. per annum owes 1000 l. and takes up the 1000 l. which he must advance ; or suppose only the first 400 l. be in money , but for the rest he may bring the bills he received from the bank. in the first case , he has occasion for five times as much money as a man of a clear estate brings to the bank ; if only the 400 l. be to be paid in mony , then indeed he will have occasion for less then 4 times as much as the other brings , but by the same rule there may never be more than the first 400 l for every 150 l. per annum . subscribed to circulate all the bills . but if the man owe 1500 l. he is excluded from all benefit of this bank. 6. the lender will expect better security than can be found here . shall he resort to his own money ? that is lent out to subscribers of land. shall he go to their land ? that is made over to answer the annuities to the bank in its bills or money : if in bills they are never likely to yield money ; if in money , that must be laid out to purchase bills , and they are to be cancelled ; if to the stock in trade ; that is first to answer the interest of 3000 l. to every subscriber of 150 l. per ann. and let the lender catch the rest where he can . it is needless here to object the want of sufficient certainty , that the bills of credit shall come in upon any other account than their lying dead ; or that the governours of this bank shall not mismanage in several particulars , which might require parliamentary provisions . the lin●olns-inn , exeter-exchange , asgill bank , or whatever name you will give it , rather than that which it assumes of land-bank , has a subscription of 500000 l. with which 4 expeditious gentlemen who are directors and slanding council , pretend to pass so many real securities as shall make to the bank 30 l. per cent. at 3 l. 10 s. per cent. but as it is said 1 l. per cent. more goes for the writings , and mr. asgil and another have 5000 l. credit in the stock for the invention ; so that they and the councel are sure to get well if the bank should have no credit beyond the summ subscribed , in which case the bank would not get 2 l. per c●nt . considering the charges , the time the money must lie dead before securities pass , and the 2 l. per cent. upon their bills , as long as they pass . however they propose to themselves to raise 30 l. per cent. by bills of credit , upon the particular estates conveyed to the bank , which bills are to carry 2 l. per cent. interest from 6 months to 6 months , and to charge men's estates till 6 months notice for their coming in : yet if landed-men could have money no where else at their rate , and there were no flaws in their settlement , they might not be much out in their reckoning . but i cannot see how they can ever lend to the value of their subscription , because , obj. 1 there is an other bank much better sounded , and with fairer pretentions to a parliamentary establishment , which will lend at 3 l. 10 d. per cent . and where the borrower may clear his estate when ever he pays his money ; nor is it improbable that the bank of england , and such other banks as are , or may be on foot , will so sink interest , that money will be commonly had elsewhere at the same rate , nay is already often let out at 4 l. per cent . obj. 2 the settlement empowers a servant of the bank to charge any man's estate in the name of the trustees ; they declare themselves chargeable only with willfull fraud : how then shall a man be secured against the servants , granting out double the due number of bills , where all that receive them shall have a like claim to be satisfied out of the estate ? obj. 3 their bills of credit being designed to charge the respective estates , as long as the bills upon them are out , or till six months notice for their coming in ; can any man be sure to have his estate cleared till six months after the paying the money which he owes ? or what ground of certainty is there , that six months notice shall be duely given for the discharging his estate at the end of six months ? if it be said the subscriptions and insurance fund are their security , that the bills shall never trouble them . 1. the subscription money all but 10000 l. for insurance must be supposed to be lent out in mortgages , and no estate can or ought to be a security that an other mans estate shall be cleared upon bringing his money . 2. tho' they have acted a good while , it does not appear that the 10000 l. or any part of it is yet laid out , notwithstanding their covenant or promise to purchase with it a present fund for insurance . 3. that fund is to be farther supplied only with 10 s. per cent out of such interest as they shall receive ; which , if the whole 500000 l. were let out , would be but 2500 l. per annum , and if but 100000 l. but 500 l. per annum , which must be charged with bad bills as well as with the good ones lying out , and possibly with a charge yet more heavy from the defects of their settlement . besides the subscribers will certainly expect to be first serv'd with at least 2 per cent . before they will suffer any part of the profits of the bank to be laid out for this purpose . 4. no security is equal to the actual clearing an estate , when the money due upon it is paid : and it will be impossible for many to raise the money by the sale of any part of the estate , or otherwise , unless the estate can be assigned over absolutely clear at the time of payment . obj. 4 their bills not being intended to charge all the estates conveyed to their trustees , but only particular estates respectively , some of which may fail ; the apprehension which any man may justly have , that his bill is charged upon such an estate , must needs hinder the currency of their bills . obj. 5 will it not be a fatal objection against their bills , that he who has one may have mislayed it , or returns not from abroad till the six months expire , or might never have observed the notice , and yet his bill signifies no more than if it were charged upon a bad title ? and where shall he have his remedy ? shall he sue the trustees ? they declare before hand they will be answerable only for willful fraud . shall he lay hold of the fund for insurance ? that is yet in the land of promise , and where ever it is , will be loaded with clearing the borrowers estate from supernumerary or other bills lying out , and with making good bad bills , besides this of paying bills when the estate on which they were charged is gone . shall the trustees be obliged to assign any one of the other mortgages ? they are to bear only their own burthen of bills , and enough too , if their design could take . obj. 6 suppose a bill be charged , as far as it can be by their method upon a good estate , shall the man who has the bill reach this estate by law or equity ? i take it by neither : and that this may appear by a bare representation of the projected settlement . the legal estate is setled upon the present trustees , and that by a new term not known in our law , is to attend the equitable interest , which is to vest in new trustees to be chosen from time to time , and that by virtue of their election , without any actual transferr or assignment ; and they to whom the equity was never transferred , are to charge an estate to which they have no title ; and this not by their immediate act , but by their servant receiving power from them , and that in and by the name which they assume without authoriry , not being incorporated ; and this charge is to be made barely by the servant's reference to a book where the estate is entred , tho' that reference names not the party whose estate they would charge , nor yet the estate , least the bills upon that estate should not pass . these bills not being personal charges ; quere 1 whether the party that receives them be in as good a condition , as he that receives a note from a bankers man ? quere 2 whether this perversion of the nature of bills of exchange , which hitherto have been personal , and now are turned upon land ( which can neither answer nor receive letters of advice , nor be out of countenance when bills are protested ) be not an invention as new to the lawyers , as to the merchants ? obj. 7 suppose the bank lend 10000 l. to a man , who after setling his estate to the use of the bank , according to this new contrivance , mortgages to an other who knows nothing of the first mortgage , for 10000 l. bona fide paid . quere whether the second mortgagee shall not in equity compell the first trustees to assign the legal estate to him , and exclude the new trustees from an equity , which had been no otherwise vested in them than as above ? and what regard in this case , would the court of chancery have to the intended charge upon the estate , by that blind and inauthoritative reference to a book of entries ? or suppose the trustees to whom the state was conveyed , and are likely to be disobliged by being voted out of the trust of the equity , which is designed to govern the legal interest , should join with the mortgagor in assurances to others ; who would be in the best condition those other persons or the bank ? in such difficulties are these gentlemen involv'd , by running in the dark byond their guide , mr. briscoe , who sometime before they set up had made a very rational proposal , for turning all the land of the kingdom which shall be conveyed to trustees for the use of the bank , into a living stock , and easing others of their excessive loads ; by bringing a million of money to circulate 4 millions of bills , charged upon land and money , the whole fund making good every bill . yet no man's land is to continue in longer than he pleases , but he may withdraw it at any time , paying the money which he has taken up there , and his proportion of loss if any has then happened . and whether he has occasion for money or no , he is to take up one years revenue of his land , that the bank may be the first mortgagee , if after settling his estate he should borrow elsewhere , and then take up money of the bank. indeed mr. neal has added to this , bills for an other years revenue , to be lent the bank as so much cash : but i do not see how these bills can yield more credit than those which the directors have power to charge upon the whole fund , and consequently upon every particular estate . but as the bills are likely to be current to the value of the fund , and all the land mortgaged to the bank , for so much as is borrowed becomes fund , though not entituled to profit and loss ; the fund for making good the bills , may extend as far as the occasions of the landed-men ; and therefore the bank's bills may pass as far , with the help of such money as will flow into it . when the values of the lands and the titles are ascertained , they cannot fail of being a fund of credit for 3 4 ths of the value ; and therefore he who subscribes 100 l. per ann. is to have credit for 1500 l. and his share in the bank accordingly , and yet shall receive the yearly income , paying his proportion of loss , and such money or bills as he takes up ; and as the interest which himself pays is part of the profits in which he shares , it is highly probably that he cannot pay 2 l. per cent. after the first year , and after that would receive more per cent ▪ than he had paid . on the other side , he that subscribes 1500 l. shall have equal advantages with the subscriber of 100 l per an. and 3 l. per cent. for the whole from his first payment , nor can his money be called in faster than at 10 quarterly payments : but if he chuse to pay faster , he may have interest at 3 l. per cent. for all above the payment then due ; yet some of the present directors lodge many thousands there without interest . and if we may conjecture by the encrease of credit in the bank of england , wch . has a much less , and less certain fund , it is not to be thought that more than half the subscription-money need be called in , and then they will have 6 l. per cent. certain besides their share in the profits . though these payments may seem too slow to set the bank in credit , especially after the coin is regulated , and men will be less fond of bills than they have been ; yet such a fund can never fail of commanding money where it is needfull ; nor will men unnecessarily call for money , while they can have so good bills ; especially if this bank were established by ast of parliament : in consequence of which it would soon become a registry for most of the lands in the kingdom , and if it were made so for such as would voluntarily enter their lands and incumbrances , or the claims which they have ; and were 100000 l. per an ▪ settled for 40 years for 1600000 l. to the publick ( whereas the bank of england has in effect a perpetuity for 1200000 l. it would make this bank no mean rival to that of amsterdam ; besides the raising land to 40 years purchase generally , and that in bank to much more . nor can it be thought that the landed-men , who must needs have the prevailing interest in parliament , can long neglect those advantages , which would set them upon an equal bottom with the traders and usurers . the most weighty objections which i have met with against this bank are these two . obj. 1 that the subscribers of money are not secure , because the landed-man may withdraw his estate . answ . 1 but it is to be considered , that this hazard is the same to every landed-man that continues in , and besides , all bear their pro portions while they stay in , and pay at their going out ; and therefore are upon equal hazard ▪ answ . 2 if i mistake not , the monied-man may have credit for 3 4ths of the value of his whole subscription , and extend that credit in bank bills ; and if this use of his stock would not for that time be like a with-drawing so much ; yet if he should never be able to bring this back to the bank , this might be worse than a landman's with-drawing his land. answ . 3 the subscribers of land either come with clear estates , or owe money upon them : in the first case the monied man has great reason to be thankful , that they give the bank credit for 2000 l. actually conveyed , and in effect brought in , to every 1500 l. subscribed in mony when but a 10th . part is paid in , and possibly there may never be 4 ▪ 10ths more . and if any landed men should withdraw , the benefit that is expected , and would be certain , when ever estates to the value of 2 or 3 millions were setled , would bring in enough of clear estates , when they saw the certainty of receiving their revenue , and yet having large interest , as if they had advanced 1500 l. for every 100 l. per ann. if the estates are encumbered , it must be under 3 4ths of the value , or they cannot be admitted into the bank ; but if all the subscribers of land took up the 3 4ths , the monied man's profit would be the greater , and such men the bank is sure of till they can pay their money , and in the mean while it has their estates as a fund of credit , not only for that money , but for the remaining 4th which the land-bank , so called , cannot pretend to , any farther than as a security for the money borrowed upon the respective estates . obj. 2 the other objection is , what lies as well against the bank of england , and the land-bank so called , which is the possibillity of bad titles , and counterfeit bills . answ . 1 but the loss upon either , or both , must be first out of the profits , and if , losses excepted , but 3 l. per cent. were clear'd , that would be 150000 l. which no man can imagine should be loss'd in any year . and there is no doubt , but the reasonable expectation of a much greater gain , will induce numbers of prudent men to venture with clear estates . however the bank could stand without them , and no man who owes 1500 l. or 1000 l. upon 100 l. per an. can possibly be discouraged from such a method of lessening his burden ; nor is it to be thought , but many would come in , if it were for no other end , but to set an example for such a national good , as has been wanted for many ages . indeed objections have been published by some body concern'd in the land bank so called , which have so little in them , and so much mistake plain fact , that they hardly deserve notice , as , obj. 1 that mr. briscoe proposes 3 millions fund , one in money , two in land. when the proposal is for 5 millions , and but one in money . so that whereas the profit to the moneyed man is supposed to be one 3d. besides his 3 l. per cent . it is but one 5 l. of the whole . obj. 2 he will have all the profit to the subscribers , to arise by taking running cash at 2 l. per cent . and letting it out at 3 l. upon which he raises a vain calculation how many millions at 1 l. per cent . clear profit must circulate to make 6 l. per cent to the subscribers . not considering that this would be an objection against their bank ; for if neither can extend its credit beyond the money in bank , or advanced in specie ; it were to no purpose to pretend to a bank of credit . but suppose the million subscribed in money should circulate but the single value of the original fund , which is all as money to help circulation , this would turn to much better account than with reason can be expected in their bank , as will appear by the next objection . obj. 3 he says , the inequallity of interest between the land and money subscribers can admit of no reconciliation for 3 l. per cent . gain , raises the money'd man's interest but to six , and yet makes the landed man borrow money for nothing . whereas if this be done with half the subscription money paid in , the mony'd man has at the rate of 12 l. per cent . and then he need not envy the landed man the advantage which is not gained by the money only , but advanced by the credit of the land ; which , as was before observed , is 2000 l. actually conveyed to 1500 l. subscribed , and but half that paid and perhaps much less , when yet , if i mistake not , the money'd man shall have credit to supply his occasions for three forths of his subscription . obj. 4 it is urged that the land subscribers being the majority , the money must be disposed of at the will of the ●orrowers . answ . but wherein they can prejudice the money'd man , i cannot understand . can they ca●l in the money too fast ? this cannot be faster then at 10 quarterly payments , whereas the landed man conveys his estate at first , and the more money is called in , the more is supposed to be let out at interest , which each shares in according to his proportion ▪ can it be thought the landed men will the rather encline to put the money out upon bad securities ? that becomes a charge upon their own land , and whatever advantages they make to the bank , redound to the others benefit ; and they who have the largest stake there will be more concerned for improving the stock , than they who may venture a little there , the better to raise the much greater interest which they have elsewhere : and yet no landed man , how much soever he has subscribed , can have ▪ 〈◊〉 then 5 votes . obj. 5 there is an other objection , not to have been expected from one of that other bank , which is the inconvenience and hazard that mr. briscoe's subscribers may meet with , by an unpresidented settlement of their estates . answ . but as i cannot find any president for their fanciful settlement ; neither can i apprehend any difficulty in settling an estate upon trustees , to be subject to its proportion of loss and gain ; nor can the fear of loss reasonably deter , where the gain is so probable and inviting . i must needs say it has not appeared to me , that ever any body before mr. briscoe proposed a practicable scheme for this , and yet sir william petty seems in the year 1682 , to have had something of the like kind in view , when to the question . what remedy is there if we have too little money ? he says . we must erect a bank , which well computed doth allmost double the effect of our coined money ; and we have in england materials for a bank which shall furnish stock enough to drive the trade of the whole commercial world. the hint of so great a man is not to be despised at least shews , that banks of credit are not to be lookt on as vain projects . in this belief i am farther confirmed , by perusing a treatise now in my hands , wherein a person of great judgment and experience not only holds , that it is necessary at this time for the parliament to appoint bills of credit , but that they may be effectual with only parliamentary security , without any particular present fund . and if i am not much mistaken , it appears by what i have observed of other banks , that the crown bank which i propose , to supply the present exigencies , is lyable to no objection , but what will fall upon the best of the others : and that all but the national land bank labour with objections which cannot be urged against this . for the recommending of which it may be observed . 1. that here is an absolute certainty that the credit shall never be stretched beyond its real and certain fund , which shall yield in specie all the money for which it gives credit . 2. till the money is paid by the publick , the bills will be as money , and passing as such from one to an other , are as capable of yielding interest : and consequently there will be no need of the crowns , paying interest , when it at the very first pays bills , which are current , not only because they shall in their time be paid in money , but in the mean while are as true a medium of trade and profit . this therefore in few years time would save the nation some millions as well as yeild millions for the present occasion . 3. whereas it will be some years before the benefit of the best of the other banks can be diffused over the whole nation ; this may be in few weeks , as soon as the bills can be finished , and delivered out . 4. if there be any apprehension that other banks may be too powerful , or may be a means of ingrossing commodities , and enhansing their prizes ; this has its certain limits , and reaches no farther , than the necessities of the publick require . 5. forwardness to close with invitations to honest profit , may lead the directors of other banks to pass bad titles , or what was fairly adventured may miscarry : but the crown-bank proposed is , in its nature , as firm and stable as the foundations of this monarchy ; which can never be moved , but by such a calamity as should leave us no visible means of continuing a protestant nation , or free people . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26182-e10 * this to secure the coming in of the bills ▪ yet they that are to come in last will be of like benefit with the first , 〈◊〉 the last pass for money , and may be disposed of , or put out at interest from the beginning . of the bank of england . of doctor chamberlain's bank. of the land-bank so called . vid. the printed settlement . vid. the printed settlement . of the national land bank. vid. the letter from a citizen concerning the land-bank . sir will. pe●●●'s quantulum cu●que concerning money . vid. mr. john blackwell's essay towards carrying on the war against france . a further attempt towards the reformation of the coin with expedients for preventing the stop of commerce during the re-coinage, and supplying the mint with a sufficient quantity of bullion ... / by r. ford. ford, r., fl. 1696. 1696 approx. 42 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39901) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 61632) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 277:2) a further attempt towards the reformation of the coin with expedients for preventing the stop of commerce during the re-coinage, and supplying the mint with a sufficient quantity of bullion ... / by r. ford. ford, r., fl. 1696. 24 p. printed for thomas cockerill, sen. & jun. ..., london : 1696. reproduction of original in yale university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -great britain. coinage -great britain. 2006-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-01 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2007-01 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a further attempt towards the reformation of the coin . with expedients for preventing the stop of commerce during the re-coinage . and supplying the mint with a sufficient quantity of bullion . humbly offered to the consideration of the king and parliament , by r. ford. london : printed for thomas cockerill sen ' & jun ' at the three leggs in the poultry , 1696. a further attempt towards the reformation of the coin , &c. introduction . though i may seem to incurr the censure of vanity and ostentation , by pretending to advance any thing new , on a theme that hath already employ'd so many able pens : yet on an impartial perusal of all that is extant on this subject , i doubt not but there will be found such ample scope for so many considerable alterations and additions as will render this further attempt not only excusable but necessary : great part of what hath been hitherto done of this nature , not having been performed with that candour and impartiality , nor with all that accuracy and exactness as were to be wish'd , in an affair of such grand importance and difficulty . and how deficient soever i may be , as to the latter of these qualifications , yet i dare assure my readers , they shall not have any just cause of complaint of my failure in the former and more essential point of an unbiassed integrity . the consciousness of which sincerity of intention , flatters me with some hopes of these endeavours meeting with a favourable reception ; wherein , if i should be deceived , yet should i be sensible of no other displeasure thereat , than any lover of his country may be supposed to have , for the miscarriage of a design he conceives might conduce to the promotion of the publick good. i shall not wast any time in an unprofitable inquiry into the several means and degrees whereby our coin hath been reduced to its present ill condition , but forthwith apply my self to the search of the properest methods of restoring it unto a good one . the only effectual expedient for which purpose , is agreed on all hands to be the re-coining of all the old clipped and counterfeit coin , into good new and mill'd money : so that there is an universal consent , as to the matter it self , that it is necessary to be done , but as to the manner of performing it ; there are almost as many different perswasions as persons , out of which variety of methods , to select those which seem most rational and practicable , is the design and scope of this discourse , which shall consist of an inquiry into the following heads , which will comprehend all that is necessary to be said on this subject . viz. first , whether it be most for the interest of the nation , to reduce the price or value of an ounce of silver unto sixty two pence , or to advance it proportionable to the present scarcity and want thereof . secondly , by whom shall the loss that will ensue on the re-coining the clipp'd and counterfeit money be sustain'd . thirdly , by what means may the mint be supplied with a sufficient quantity of silver bullion , to make near as much good money in tale , as there is at this time of good and bad together . fourthly , what methods are proper to be insisted on , to prevent the stop of commerce during the re-coinage . the first , and indeed most material point that offers it self to our consideration , is the value that ought to be fixed on the ounce of silver ; or whether it be more for the publick interest to have it reduced unto sixty two pence , or to have it advanced proportionable to the present scarcity and want thereof . the latter of which two opinions , viz. that it is most for the interest of the nation to advance the price of our silver , seems most rational in it self , and beneficial to the kingdom in its present circumstances , and that for several cogent , and ( if i mistake not ) unanswerable reasons ; whereof the following are some of the principal , which when i can find satisfactorily answered , i ingage to change my opinion ; until which be done , i hope those of the contrary perswasion will alter theirs . these reasons i shall dispose under two heads . 1. i shall enumerate some of the grand inconveniencies that will attend the non-advancement of silver . 2. i shall represent some of the advantages that will accrue to the nation by raising the price thereof . and to begin with an enumeration of the evil consequences that will attend the low valuation of silver , some of the principal whereof are , 1. the want of a sufficient quantity of money for payment of the taxes and rents , and carrying on of the trade of the nation . now if i can but prove , that such an excessive want and scarcity of money will be the certain and fatal consequence of fixing so low a rate on silver . i think this single consideration were sufficient to disswade the practice of it . for certainly such a method of regulating the coin , as carries with it such fatal and pernicious consequences , as the occasioning so great a scarcity of money , as to render us incapable of paying our taxes and rents , and management of our trades ; and that will impoverish the nation to that degree , as to incapacitate us for the continuance of the war ; and thereby oblige us , and consequently the rest of europe , to truckle to the ambition and power of france . i say , such a method , that draws with it such consequences as these , must be acknowledged of all hands , to be very unfit to be pursued . now that the low valuation of silver would cause so great a scarcity of money , as would in a great measure produce such fatal effects , may i conceive be evinced from the ensuing considerations . 1. that the fixing a low rate on silver , will produce such an excessive scarcity of money , may partly be evinced , if we consider , that what silver shall be recoin'd , together with what mill'd and unclipp'd money is still remaining , will not go so far by near a million of pounds sterling , if it be re-coin'd at a low rate , as it will if the value be augmented ; which will be evident , if we compare what quantity of money in tale , may be recoin'd out of the clipp'd money , reckoning the silver at 62 pence per ounce , with the quantity that may be made out of the same silver , reckoned at a fourth part more , viz. at 6 s. 5 d. ½ per ounce . there may be ( as is computed by the judicious mr. lowndes ) about 5600000 l. of sterling money left in the kingdom , whereof he supposes about 1600000 l. may be in mill'd and unclipp'd money , and the other four millions in clipp'd money ; which one with another ( as appears by several bags weigh'd at the exchequer ) is diminished full one half of its weight . so that the said four millions , re-coin'd according to the present establishment , will not make above two millions of mill'd money , which , with the 1600000 l. supposed to be remaining in mill'd and unclipp'd money , and making in all 3600000 l. will be all the silver money we are like to have in the kingdom , in lieu of about eight millions of good and bad silver together , which are supposed to be now therein . now he that can inform me , how we may be capable of paying every year between five or six millions of pounds for defraying the charge of the war , a great part of which sum must also be transported for the use of the land-forces ; and how at the same time we may pay our rents , and manage our domestick and forreign trades , on account of which latter also there must be great sums yearly transported , to make good the ballance of what the goods we export fall short of those we import . i say , he that can propose the means of performing all this out of 3600000 l. of silver , and our small quantity of gold coin ( which by the way will be very inconsiderable , when it is fallen to the rate these gentlemen would have silver fixed at , ) — erit mihi magnus apollo , i 'll erect altars to his praise , and sacrifice to his memory . but on the other hand , if silver be advanced a fourth part , viz. from 5 s. 2 d. unto 6 s. 5 d. ½ per ounce ( as it ought to be in proportion to the present scarcity thereof , of which more in the sequel of this discourse ) then the same quantity of silver will furnish us with a fourth part more money than it would if it were coin'd at the rate of the present establishment . so that instead of but 3600000 l. we shall by this proposed advancement of silver , have 4500000 l. in the nation , which is nine hundred thousand pounds more , and is no inconsiderable addition to our coin at such a juncture as this . and besides this augmentation of our silver coin , the advancement of our silver will raise our gold proportionally full a fourth part : so that supposing there may be about two millions of pounds sterling in all sorts of gold coins in the nation ; which if silver be raised to the proposed value , will pass for a full fourth part , or 500000 l. more than they otherwise would : which advance of the gold , added to that of the silver , demonstrates there will be 1400000 l. more in tale in the kingdom , by the fixing a higher rate on silver , than there would be by setting a lower valuation thereon . but before i can pass to the next reason , to prove that such an excessive and fatal want of money , will be a consequence of reducing silver to a low value , i must obviate one grand objection , which i foresee will be urged against what i have already advanced , and which is this . object . that though it be granted , that the same quantity of silver or gold , will make more money in tale , by advancing the value of the bullion , than it will if debased to a lower value ; yet though the money coin'd at such a low rate will not go so far in tale , yet it will purchase as much goods as if it did . the real and intrinsick , not the nominal and imaginary value being that which is regarded by those who sell their commodities . — to which i answer , that though it be in some measure true , that the price of goods bears some proportion to the goodness or badness of the coin wherewith they are purchased . yet is not this proportion so exact as fully to ballance them : for i dare undertake to purchase more goods with a coin in quantity of silver coin'd into money set at a pretty high rate , than with the same weight of silver coin'd into money , and fixed at a lower rate . for though indeed the real and intrinsick value is principally regarded , yet not so , as totally to exclude all consideration of the extrinsick value and denomination that is put upon it ; to which also all persons , especially the subjects of the prince , whose money it is , bear some respect unto , and will accept it in payment for something more than the bare intrinsick value : as will be further evident , if we consider , that though i think it s granted , that our coin is , if taken altogether full 50 per cent. or one half less worth at this time , than the first intrinsick value . and therefore that according to the rule of goods rising or falling fully so much as to ballance the several degrees of the goodness of money , all our inland and foreign commodities should have advanc'd full one half above their former price , and the exchange for our money have fallen one half from its former rate . neither of which we find to have happen'd , not even when our money was reduc'd to its worst estate , and e're it was certain whether it would be reform'd or not . for if we examine the price-current of all commodities , 't will be found they are not advanc'd near 50 per cent. one with another ; and so much as they are risen , is not only on account of the badness of our coin , but is in great measure occasioned by the extraordinary demand there is for many of them both here and beyond-sea ; and by the great difficulty and hazard of importing them during the war. and then as to the course of exchange , that also never fell so much from its former rate , as our money is from its former intrinsick value . for i think , when our coin was in its perfection of weight and purity , the course of exchange at roterdam , amsterdam , &c. seldom exceeded 37 dutch shillings for a pound sterling . and when our coin was debas'd to its worst estate , the exchange at the same places was seldom lower than 26 or 27 of the same shillings for a pound sterling , which is not above 30 per cent. difference from what it was when our coin was in its best condition ; though ( as i said before ) our money is become generally 50 per cent. worse than its first intrinsick value . so that i think it 's evident , that neither do goods advance , nor the exchange sink so , as fully to ballance the baseness and lightness of our coin. whence it follows , that the same weight of gold and silver valu'd at a higher rate , will go further in purchasing commodities , as well as in tale , than the same weight , if a lower value be fixed ; since our clipt and counterfeit money buyes more commodities of any sort in proportion to its real and intrinsick value , than our money , when in its best estate , ever did in proportion to the real and intrinsick value thereof at that time . and therefore our quantity of silver valued at 4500000 pound , will go something farther in the purchase of even foreign commodities , as well as in tale , than the same quantity valued at but 3600000 pound will do ; which was the point i designed to prove . and if this hold in some measure even as to our foreign traffick , it 's much more certain , that with relation to our in-land trade , the advancement of the price of money will not only make it go further in tale , but also in purchase , and furnish us with a larger stock to traffick with among our selves ; the extrinsick value and denomination of our coin being regarded , as well as the real and intrinsick one in our dealings one with another : so that the encrease of the extrinsick value or denomination of our money will cause it to go further in payments , and purchase more goods than it would otherwise do . and in every regulation of the coin , there ought to be had an equal , if not superior regard to the interests of our domestick , as well as foreign commerce . for the service of which former , money seems to have been principally intended , as being designed to answer such things as could not be easily reckon'd , or equally divided , and made to answer one another . but a due consideration of the interest of our in-land traffick in the regulation of our money , seems to be wholly neglected by the great sticklers for a low valuation of our money , whose measures seem chiefly calculated for the meridian of forreign trade , and their own particular interests ; insomuch as i hope it will be judged no breach of charity to conjecture , that the true motive by which some of that party are acted in this affair , is , that many of them being foreigners , and trading in commodities coming from holland , the sound , streights , &c. may , instead of making their returns in goods , remit our money thither in specie , by the extraordinary goodness whereof they propose to gain 20 or 25 per cent. in the exchange ; which they know cannot be done , if our money be fix'd at a pretty high rate . but tho' this may be true as to some of them , yet i doubt not but there are many persons of the same opinion , whose intentions are undoubtedly generous and honest , but have been wheedled by some designing self-interested persons , to think and act otherwise in this affair , than they would have done , if left to have pursu'd the dictates of their own better and more impartial judgments . having , as i hope , sufficiently enervated the force of this grand objection , in which i have been the more prolix , because it is one of the most plausible the cause will afford ; i proceed to the mention of a second reason , to prove , that an excessive scarcity of money , will be a consequence of the non-advancement of silver : which is , 2. that the reduction of silver to so low a rate ; will not only prevent its going so far in tale and purchase , as it otherwise would ; but will also be such a great discouragement to the importation of gold and silver into the kingdom , and carrying of it into the mint , as will thereby cut off all hopes of procuring bullion to increase the coin. i need not prove that increase of our money at a juncture , when by melting , clipping , and other indirect means it is reduced to so small a quantity , must be concluded to be for the publick good ; and consequently any proposal that tends to deprive the nation of such an advantage , as the augmentation of our coin is universally acknowledged to be , must necessarily be judged repugnant to the publick interest . and that a low valuation of silver tends to prevent the increase of our money , will be evident , if we consider , that no persons will carry any silver into the mint at 5 s. 2 d. per ounce , when besides that , it is likely they gave considerably more for it themselves . it will yield a better price elsewhere . so that the fixing so low a state on gold and silver would be as effectual a prohibition of the importation of it into the kingdom , and carrying of it unto the mint , as any law that could be enacted for that purpose . a third reason to evince that such an excessive want of money will ensue on the non advancement of gold and silver , is , that fixing so low a value on silver , will not only so discourage the importation of it into the kingdom , and carrying of it into the mint , as will cut off all hopes of increasing the quantity of our coin , but also will be such a temptation to persons to melt and transport it , as will render it impossible for us to preserve even the little we shall have left , from being conveyed out of the nation . so that supposing the government should impose the hard terms of carrying in our plate to be coined , at 1 s. or 1 s. 6 d. per ounce less than it cost , and thereby the quantity of our money should be for the present augmented . nay , imagining we had double the quantity of money that is possible for us to have : yet if the value were setled at the rate of the present establishment , or 5 s. 2 d. per ounce , in the process of a few years it would be insensibly melted and transported , until there would not remain a sufficient quantity for the supplying our most urgent occasions , but the nation would be involved in a greater exigency and distress than it ever did ( or i hope ever will ) experience . now , that what i have here urged is not a meer scare-crow to terrifie children and fools withal , i appeal to our own sad experience , which never spake clearer in any case than it doth in this . doth not this inform us in general , that though there should be enacted the severest laws , back'd with the execution of the most rigorous penalties , against the commission of a crime , by which there is a prospect of certain gain , yet that there will never be wanting persons who for the sake thereof will hazard the enduring the greatest punishments . and doth not experience further teach us in general , that few laws are obeyed , the violation whereof is more gainful than the observation , and where the profit of breaking them is great and certain , but the penalty dubious , or easily avoidable ? but doth not even our own present experience furnish us with pregnant instances in relation to this particular subject of the coin , since of above fifteen millions of silver money , which as appears by the register of the mint , have been coined since the time of king henry the eighth , not above one third part are computed to be remaining in specie , but all the rest either melted down , or transported ? so that we may rationally judge of the future by what is already past . nay , rather we may conclude that silver and gold being scarcer and dearer now on many accounts than for several years past , should they be setled at so low a rate , the encouragement to melt and transport it being greater than ever , their industry therein would consequently be more than ordinary ; for we have no reason to imagine that when the reason and temptation of doing it will be so much augmented , that their diligence will be lessened . for if persons will not stick at the commission of a crime for the obtaining of a less advantage , they will not scruple it for the procuring of a greater . and this reason will appear yet more unanswerable , if besides the clandestine and illegal conveying the silver out of the land , which i have proved will be an inevitable consequence of the scarcity and goodness of our money , there will also thereby ensue this further inconvenience , viz. that our neighbours supplying us with more goods than we do them , we thereby become their debtors , and consequently must pay what we owe them in such as they will please to accept ; and we may be certain they will choose to have their returns in that whereby they shall gain most . so that if our silver be reduced to a low value , they will choose to have their returns in as much of it as they can , whereby we shall be at length so drain'd of our money , as to be reduced to such a scarcity and want of money , as i affirmed ▪ and i think , have proved , will be the consequence of the non-advancement of silver , and the cause of such a poverty as will disable us to pay our taxes and rents , and manage our trades . which though it be but a single instance of the mischievous effects of setting a low valuation on silver , yet is one of so black and extensive a nature , and draws such a numerous and dismal train of ill consequences along with it , as will spare me the labour of adding much more to prove the disadvantage of such a practice . however i shall mention a second grand inconvenience that will attend the non-advancement of silver , viz. that the making our money of a great weight and a low value , will mightily obstruct the sale of our manufactures and in-land commodities , both to our neighbours abroad , and amongst our selves at home . for as to our neighbours , if our money be made of so extraordinary goodness , they will ( as i said before ) choose to have their returns made in that , and in as few of our goods as possible . which will cause our commodities to fall very much on our hands for want of buyers . in the mean time our neighbours taking as much money , and as few goods from us as possible , will thereby ( together with the concurrence of some other causes mentioned in the foregoing head ) occasion such a want of money , as will mightily obstruct the vent of our in-land commodities , even among our selves , and so very much prejudice our domestick as well as foreign commerce . for a great scarcity of money will oblige persons to retrench their usual expences , and employ their money in such things only as are of pure necessity . so that most of the trades that subsist by furnishing things for the pleasure and ornament of humane life ( of which kind the greater part of the trades of the nations subsist ) must necessarily droop and decline ; for persons not having money sufficient to gratifie both their necessities and their pleasures , will be obliged to baulk the latter to serve the former , or at least to disappoint one of the two ; and then amongst other commodities , that will fall so much by reason of the scarcity of money . we may be certain that corn , cattel , and the other products of land will bear a proportion ; and if a tenant cannot make so much of the product of his farm , as he used to do , then it will be impossible for him to pay his landlord the usual rent : so that all the lands and tenements must of necessity sink , considerably below their present yearly rents : which will not be the only diskindness that this hopeful project , of reducing the silver to so low a rate as 5 s. 2 d. per ounce , ( if it succeed ) will procure to the gentlemens and landlords estates in england . for this low rate of silver causing a scarcity of money , and this scarcity of money naturally causing the advancement of the interest thereof , to perhaps double the present rate , and the advancement of the interest of money will certainly lower the purchase of lands by several years ; for that when the increase of money was high , lands yielded but a few years purchase . but on the contrary , when the interest of money was lowest , then lands sold for the most years purchase ; as will be evident , if we compare the purchase of lands in king henry the eighth's time , when interest of money was at 12 or 14 l. per cent. per annum , with the purchase of the same lands now , when interest is not above a third part of what it was at that time : it being always observed , that as the price of money was advanced , and thereby the species increased , that the interest thereof fell and grew less ; and according as the interest of money fell , so land advanced several years purchase ; as will be manifest , if we observe how much the land of england hath been improved since the aforesaid time of king henry the eighth , when interest of money was so very high . so that upon the whole , we may see how much the gentlemen and landlords of england are obliged to these persons , for proposing such a method of regulating the coin , that will not only , by introducing a scarcity of money , cause all the products , and consequently the yearly rents of lands , to fall considerably ; but also advance the interest of money , and thereby lower the purchase of lands by several years . and i conceive i have by this time so throughly represented the fatal consequences that will ensue on the fixing silver at a low rate , that the impartial reader by this time cannot but be sensible , how destructive that course would be to the publick good. i should now ( as i proposed ) enforce my reasons for advancing the price of silver , by representing the advantages that would accrue to the nation by doing thereof . but these being in some measure handled under the former head , when i enumerated the ill consequences of the contrary course . and these advantages of raising silver , being but , as it were , the reverse of , and directly opposite unto the disadvantages of fixing a low value thereon . the good effects of the one , are best seen by opposing them to the bad ones of the other method , which i shall do very briefly , if the setting a low valuation on silver will cause , that it will pass but a little way in payments , the contrary method will make it go as far as possible . if the former be such a discouragement to the bringing in of silver to be coin'd , as cuts off all hopes of increasing the quantity of our money , the latter affords all imaginable incouragement both to the importation of it into the kingdom , and to the carrying it into the mint to be coin'd : by which means we may hope to have as great a plenty of good money , as ever was yet in the nation . again , if the setting too low a valuation on silver , be a temptation to convey it out of the kingdom , the fixing a high rate thereon , will be a means of preserving the coin intire and unmelted : and if the low rate of silver will obstruct the exportation of our commodities , because our neighbours will choose our money before our goods : on the contrary , the advancing silver to a pretty high rate , will induce them to choose our commodities rather than our money , and thereby incourage our trade and manufactures , and preserve our money in the kingdom to manage our inland trade . in short , if the low rate of silver will cause such a scarcity of money , as will oblige persons to retrench their usual pleasurable expences , and thereby occasion the decay of a great many trades depending thereon ; but the setting a high price on silver , thereby causing a plenty thereof in the nation , will enable persons to spend freely to the advantage of trade . again , if the one will produce such a scarcity of silver , as will cause all commodities , and among the rest , all the products of land to fall considerably , and consequently all lands to sink something in their yearly rent . the other , on the contrary , by advancing silver , would keep commodities up at such a tolerable price , as would preserve the present yearly rent of land. finally , if fixing silver at a low rate , will cause such a scarcity , as must of necessity advance the interest of money , and thereby cause land to fall several years purchase . on the contrary , the advancement of silver , causing , as i have proved , a plenty of money , which plenty must consequently lower the interest thereof . and the lessening of the interest of money , will , as experience evinces , advance land several years purchase . having , as i hope , sufficiently evinced the necessity and advantage of raising the price of silver , i come now to fix the particular rate , to which i humbly conceive it is requisite to be advanced , which , with the judicious mr. lowndes ( who seems to have understood this matter better than most who have treated of it besides ) i judge to be one fourth part above the present establishment ; so that the ounce of silver must consequently be raised from 5 s. 2 d. unto 6 s. 5 d. ½ per ounce , which may be done two ways , either by retaining of the same weight and fineness as before , with the addition of a fourth part of extrinsick value ; and so every mill'd crown must be ordered to pass at 6 s. 3 d. and the other pieces proportionable . the other method of advancing the silver , is by coining it of a less weight than before , but still affixing the same value ; by which regulation , the standard of one of the new crown pieces to pass at 5 s. will consist of 15 penny-weights and an half within an inconsiderable fraction , and the other pieces proportionable . both which methods come to one and the same effect ; only if it shall be thought fit to make use of the latter method of diminishing the weight , but retaining the extrinsick value . then the better to make the new crowns answer to such as shall be left of the old establishment , it will be requisite that besides half crowns , there should be also coined quarter crowns , or pieces of 15 d. one whereof added to a new crown , will make it exactly answer the old mill'd crown pieces that shall remain of the former standard . this rate setled on our silver coins , will soon reduce our gold to the same proportion , according to which a guinea is worth 25 s. at which rate i humbly conceive it is for the publick interest to have them fix'd by authority . and moreover to prevent the extraordinary loss that will fall so heavy on some particular persons by their falling 5 s. per piece , viz. from 30 s. unto 25 s. at one instant , as they are like to do if left to take their course ; i judge it would prevent that inconvenience , if the loss that will ensue upon them , be equally born by the nation , which may be effected by ordering them to fall 6 d per piece ever month for the first six months next ensuing the date of an order to be publish'd for that effect ; and to fall 4 d. per piece every month for the next six months , to commence from the expiration of the first six months ; and all persons shall be commanded to take them at the rates they shall be currant in each respective month , under the penalty of forfeiting the value of the money they shall so refuse : and all other gold coins to fall by the same proportion . whereby in 12 months time we should have our gold coin reduced to their true value , with a trouble and loss , that being thus divided among the nation in general , would be very inconsiderable , and almost insensible . but were it to be born by each particular person , would very much impoverish some families , whilst the rest escape scot-free ; for all persons that shall be thus obliged to take guinea's for their goods , would reimburse themselves in some measure by making a better price of their commodities , and be likewise in hopes of paying their guinea's away again before a month is expired : so as i am perswaded that such an ordinance would be received with almost an universal satisfaction . thus have i gone through the first and indeed principal point i intended in this discourse , and therefore shall be more brief in what remains . the second general head i proposed to enquire into , is , by whom shall the loss that will ensue on the re-coining the clipt and counterfeit money be sustained ? unto that part of the query that relates to the clipt silver money , the resolution of parliament , that the loss thereof shall be made good by the publick , is a sufficient reply . but it being yet undetermined , by whom the loss occasion'd by the counterseit money should be sustained ; i hope i may be permitted to communicate my opinion : which is , that the loss thereof be born , one part by the publick , and the other by the several proprietors , in the sollowing proportion , viz. that for all such counterfeit-money as hath any mixture or incorporation of silver in it , and is not intirely brass , copper , iron , or some such metal , the owner shall , upon their carrying it into the mint , be allowed for so much as the said money shall weigh , after the rate of 5 s. per ounce , troy-weight , to be paid them , partly out of such silver as shall be found in the said money that is carried in , after the melting and separation thereof , and the residue out of such a tax as the parliament shall think fit to lay for that purpose . until which money can be rais'd , they shall have notes given them , entitling themselves or the bearers thereof unto so much sterling money as the said counterfeit-money they carried in amounted unto by weight , at 5 s. per ounce , to be paid as before , and to have an allowance of 5 per cent. per ann. for the said value of their counterfeit-money , until the time of payment . by which method the poorer sort of people , in whose hands great part of the bad money is lodg'd , would be extremely eas'd , and with no great burden to the nation . for supposing there should be about 2500000 l. bad money in the kingdom , whereof we may suppose at least 500000 l. entirely brass , copper , &c. which loss is to fall wholly on the proprietors . and the two millions that may be suppos'd to be mix'd metal , would hardly weigh one million ; the bad money being generally less and lighter than the clipp'd silver . so that the loss of another million at least will by the lightness of the money fall also on the proprietor . so that the publick will only have the loss of about a million of pounds sterling in weight , or about four millions of ounces of mix'd and course silver to make good : which said metal may one with another be worth about 3 s. an ounce , according to the advanc'd price of silver . so that the loss on the part of the publick would not exceed 4 or 500000 l. which yet would be a great ease to the poor , who must otherwise be oblig'd to dispose of their bad money at unreasonable low rates to the goldsmiths , or others that will buy it of them . and i think there can be hardly be any good reason given wherefore the publick should sustain the loss of the clipt silver : which will not be of equal force to prove that the nation is as much obliged to sustain at least some part of the loss of the counterfeit money . which shall suffice for an answer to the second general enquiry , by whom the loss of the clipt and counterfeit money ought to be sustain'd . the third head i propos'd to enquire into , is , by what means may the mint be supplied with a sufficient quantity of bullion , to make near as much good money in tale , as there is at this time of good and bad together ? to which i answer briefly in general , that the only effectual means of accomplishing this , is what i have already so strongly urg'd , viz. the advancement of the price of silver , which will be the only encouragement to the importation of silver into the kingdom , and carrying of it into the mint . but to propose some more particular means of effecting this , i would humbly advize , that all the gold and silver plate throughout the kingdom ( excepting such quantities and sorts of each as shall be judg'd fit to be reserved according to persons several degrees and estates , be order'd to be brought into the mint , and coin'd into money at the rate of 6 s. 5 d. ½ . per ounce , answerable to the other silver ; whereby , notwithstanding the reservation of such a certain quantity as should be judg'd fit , there would be near two millions of good sterling mnney added to the coin of the nation , without oppressing any particular persons , who can have no cause of complaint , when they are allow'd so good a price for their plate : which will be more beneficial to the owners , as well as the publick , after it is coin'd into money , than it was before , when it serv'd more for ostentation , than for use . i am come at length to the fourth and last general head of enquiry , viz. what methods are proper to be made use of to prevent the stop of commerce , during the re-coinage ? to which i will make as brief and satisfactory an answer as i can in the following particulars . 1. that it will be requisite that all the mill'd and unclipt money that is remaining , be immediately order'd to pass , the crown-piece at 6 s. 3 d. and the other pieces proportionably , the propos'd advancement of silver one fourth part above the present value . 2. that the price of guinea's ought to be fix'd , and they ordered to fall gradually so much per mensem , as was before proposed , that persons may not , by the uncertainty of their price , be deterred from accepting them in payment . 3. that the clipp'd silver shall be carried in to be recoined ; there shall be notes , given out , intituling the bearer , to the value of so much clipp'd silver as he carried in , to be paid in mill'd money as soon as coin'd , with interest at 5 per cent. per annum , until the respective bills shall come to their course of being paid . and these notes shall be order'd to pass in payments as money , and made transferrable from one person to another , the bearer being entituled to the receipt of the money when it ' comes due . and these notes , by reason of the 5 per cent. annex'd to them , will be judg'd preferable to any goldsmith's or bank bills ; which , together with the remainder of the mill'd and unclipt money , which upon the advancement of the value would presently come abroad ; and will with the assistance of the gold , so well supply the place of our clipt and counterfeit money , that we need not apprehend any considerable stop of commerce during the re-coinage . thus have i , with what brevity and perspicuity i could , communicated my thoughts on these four important points , which , i think , do include all that is most material to be said in relation to the reformation of the coin. finis . the miracles perform'd by money a poem / by the author of the humours of a coffee-house. ward, edward, 1667-1731. 1692 approx. 28 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67512 wing w746 estc r3744 12311313 ocm 12311313 59368 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67512) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 59368) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 904:42) the miracles perform'd by money a poem / by the author of the humours of a coffee-house. ward, edward, 1667-1731. [4], 20 p. printed, and are to be sold by the booksellers of london and westminster, london : 1692. reproduction of original in huntington library. attributed to edward ward. cf. bm. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -early works to 1800. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-05 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-05 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the miracles perform'd by money ; a poem . by the author of the humours of a coffee-house . t is virtue , wit , and worth , and all , that men divine , and sacred call : for what is worth in any thing , but so much money as t' will bring ? hudibras part 2d . canto 1st . london : printed , and are to be sold by the book-sellers of london and westminster : 1692. epistle dedicatory to sir martin monyless . since my very good friend , but now under the hatches , and as poor as a seller of brooms and card-matches , thou hast left off thy quibbles , thy songs , and thy catches . prithee leave off thy sober dull plodding and thinking , and into thy pockets get ready and chink in , and then i 'le allow thee a time for good drinking . for till then be thy parts ne're so modish and florid , till with darby's and smelts thou thy purse hast well stored , there 's a fool in thy face , and an ass in thy forehead . what a pox do i care for a monyless fellow ? if he speaks ne're so witty he seems but to bellow , if he wants the true blessings of white and of yellow . till thou mony hast got , thy brisk humour will falter , till thou hast it ne're spare neither temple nor altar , but a word by the by , have a care of the halter . but let happen what will , get some mony how er'e , cog , flatter , dissemble , lye , swear , and forswear , and attempt any action a brave fellow dare . be a pimp , or a pander , a sharper , or bully , a decoy , a trappan , or a counterfeit cully , and never give ore till thou 'st done the trick fully . swear old men are young , and queen blowze is a beauty , undo pretty virgins , tempts wives from their duty , and be true to all interests you think will be true t' ye . out-rail a bilk't coachman , out-banter a wit , out-lye a news-writer , out-promise a cit , strive thy self to out-do if the thing thou canst hit . more women deceive than did wickham of late , religion or bawdy or any thing prate , and put on all shapes so thou get but the plate . prithee never want mony what ever may lack thee , for when thou hast mony no friends will forsake thee , but if thour' t without it the devil may take thee . thy friend ( if thou wilt be thine own ) tom of ten thousand . what mighty magick does the world betwitch , that all mankind thus covet to be rich ? daily plough up the raging stormy main , from east to west , and all in chase of gain ; climb highest hills , through sandy deserts go , over partcht plains , and mountains clad in snow ; the various heats and colds of climates scorn , of both the tropicks , cancer , capricorn ; deprive their nights of rest , their days of pleasure , grow hoary-headed in pursuit of treasure ; swear and forswear , equivocate and lye , stick at no oaths nor blackest perjury ; sons kill their fathers , brother fight with brother , and all mankind prove wolves to one another ; friends sheath their swords in bosoms of their friends , when with kind love their interest contends ; with wild confusion all the world spread o're , occasion'd by the search of shining oar : the secret would some spirit but unfold , from whence proceeds this mighty thirst of gold ? cease foolish muse , thy admiration cease , or to know nothing of the world confess ; for 't is a certain maxim plain and clear , want of a blessing makes a blessing dear : what monied man wrackt with gout , would not , with a young healthful beggar change his lot ? with wholesom scraps a vig'rous health maintain , rather than lye on velvet couch in pain ? if love of mony be the root of evil , the want of it is certainly the devil : a truth which ever was and ever will be known to all the brethren of the quill : their purses like sprink-tides are sometimes swel'd , and to the brims with smiling angels fill'd : but tides of ebb do soon their pockets drain , and then they 're at low water mark again . since then it is not by the gods allow'd , poets should always find so great a good , wee 'l rail at what is not within our power , as did the fox , who swore the grapes were sour ; recount the various wonders hourly done , by monies strange effective force alone , and the surprizing miracles unfold , done by the vertue of almighty gold. room for my lord there — be uncover'd slave , bear back ye vermin , cries a sawcy knave , walking before a spark whose vast estate did's title first , and then respect create : whose grand-father perhaps was one so civil , for gold to go directly to the devil , that his dear hony suckle babe might be a knight , or else a man of quality : see how he struts — observe the humble grin , which by his flatterers is return'd again ; mark how they bow with most fantastick cringes , as if their bodies mov'd by springs and hinges . a supple slave then whispers in his ear , my lord , gad judg me , if you dont appear , the most accomplish'd person in the world , your shape so clean , your wigg so neatly curl'd ; nay you 'r the only man at court , which ere knew how to dress — by gad my lord you wear your cloaths with such becoming negligence , as if you only put them on by chance ; the ladies all have laid their hearts at stake , and sigh and languish only for your sake . at this my lord affords a gracious smile , listning to 's fulsom flattery all the while . by this time to attend his levee , comes a needy poet , twirling of his thumbs , and looking simply humbly craves , my lord , the mighty honour would be pleas'd t' afford , as to become a patron to his play , that is , in other words , be pleas'd to pay for fulsom praise , cramp't in a florid story , in the epistle called ded'catory : by a small nod my lord assents he will , which does the scribling wretch will pleasure fill : homeward he goes by studious arts to raise , for gilded quality some tinsel praise . nay too too oft do men of wit and parts , well read in men , in languages and arts , expose , for want of necessary pence , to monied blockheads , their immortal sense ; who by that means acquire a lasting fame , and to posterity transmit a name ; which in oblivions records else had stood , with names of millions dead before the flood . mong wonders to which mony makes pretence , 't is strange it shou'd supply the want of sense ! yet is an ideot by fortune blest , with a full pocket , or a well cram'd chest ; and by the means of his so large increase , made knight o' th shire , or justice of the peace : at quarter-sessions when he sits in state , among his brethren , to assess and rate , tho nere so dull and flat , yet what he says , is of by-standers sure to gain the praise ; 't is much if when their commendations swell , they say not — spoken like an oracle . or if in mixt converse , where business , news , or other talk does company amuse , the man should chancc to interfere and prate , ( for nothing noted but his great estate ) if by the hour he nonsense should discourse , ( than which there cannot be a greater curse in conversation ) yet they listen all , and greedily snatch up the words which fall from 's mouth , as if they were in modern sense , the choicest pearls and flowers of eloquence . but if on him the itch of scribling seize , and 's labring thoughts can never be at ease , till he in print has to the world put forth , a piece ( as he esteems ) of mighty worth , be th' subject what it will of any kind , it will not fail a vast applause to find ; for there was ner'e a scribling monied fop , but found some greater fool to cry him up ; if not much prais d , it will at least be said , the author wrote for pleasure , not for bread. is verse the subject ? tho' each stanza chimes , with as much spirit as do belmen's rhimes ; tho' ten times duller every line appears , than crowns late daeneids , or john bunyans verse : yet his flat nonsense will the world prefer , before the lines of cowley , rochester , waller or denham , or the late admir'd oldham , who wrote as with a muse inspir'd . if politicks his empty pages swell , he understands much more than matchivel ; and does from newer principles derive ye the grounds of rule than hobbs in book de cive : nay , he how far the very bounds can show , prerogative and priviledge may go ; and he has often , tho' t' has been in 's power , declin'd the place of privy councellor . does history amuse his idle hours ? he does with more solidity discourse of that grave subject , than can ere be read , in works of baker , speed or hollinshed . if to mixt subjects he his pen applies , what ere he writes is sure to find success ; his flatterers will every thing admire , each line , each sentence , sets their souls on fire ; all is divine , there 's not a word amiss , with joy they shake , and weep with tenderness : by this his vanity so high is flown , he thinks no works so shining as his own : if you in number of his friends he takes , of 's works to you he then a present makes ; for which , as 't is the fashion now a days , you must be sure the new composure praise , and tell him , that the sottish world had lain in ignorance , had not his learned pen the foggs their reason clouded , soon dispell'd , and with rich thoughts their empty judgments fil'd : tho after all it is these scriblers fate , ( for little else but noisy praise they get ) to have their very works so much esteem'd , by flatterers , to be at last condemn'd , to wrap up spice , tobacco , soap and plumbs , under pyes put , or wipe the readers b — s ; and thus each lofty line , each mighty thought , is to its final execution brought . if one by fortune plac d in low degree , reduc'd to want and needy poverty , living in country village all alone , his name to parish-register scarce known , should by some strange and unexpected fate , become the heir to mony or estate , and is , his part the better to maintain , ambitious to be thought a gentleman ; tho' by the ancient stock from whence he came , he was a begger both by sire and dam ; yet learned heralds can for mony show , from some rich family he first did grow : tho , for some time it may have been obscure , his ancestors came in with th' conqueror . if store of or and argent he has got , he shall not fail to have 'em in his coat ; tho' dormant couchant long his name did rest , he shall have lyon rampant for his crest ; and if hee l pay but briskly for the thing , from john of gaunt his pedigree they 'l bring thus store of mony and a vast estate , can of a clown a gentleman create . but now another scene appears in view , a scene which known experience says is true : suppose then reader , that my friend and i , ev'n in the days of childish infancy such freedoms take , we afterwards improve , to highest offices of friendly love ; one soul our diff'rent bodies seems to move , alike we hate , alike approve , and love : all lawful pleasures we alike partake , and each is free to dye for t'others sake ; no task thought difficult , nor danger great , may firmer unions of our souls create ; and what crowns all , we both have mony store , he vastly rich , i far from being-poor . but if by fortune's strange capricious spight , on my estate some sweeping mischief light , some raging fire my blooming hopes prevent , or loss by sea , or other accident strips me of all those riches once i had , my diet mean , my self more meanly clad , pensive and thoughtful all day long i walk , and to my self in broken murmurs talk , having no comfort but this thought alone , tho fortune 's fled , yet friendship is not gone ; unwilling yet of friends to ask relief , for there 's a kind of modesty in grief , as yet within the compass of my breast , my wants , my troubles , and afflictions rest ; yet if at last my cruel creditors , joyn all their forces , and unite their powers to crush me , and by serjeants rude arrest , i 'm safely lockt in ludgate's stony chest ; but yet in prison give my thoughts some scope , and entertain my self with starving hope , that my rich friend , since now i stand in need , will prove a real , cordial friend indeed ; i write ; no answer comes : i write ag'en , till i to stumps have almost worn my pen ; no friend appears , my dying hopes to cherish , there i may lye and rot , and starve and perish ; at last , when i 've more messengers employ'd , then patient job with their sad tales anoy'd , he sends — ( for should himself in person come , he 'd be infected in a prison-room ) and lets me know , that he is very sorry from walls of stone , to hear my dismal story , but had poor luckless i two days before sent the sad news , he could with mighty store have eas'd my wants , and tho his heart was willing , he could not now equip me with a shilling ; for on the morning of that very day i sent , he 'd paid all 's ready cash away : or else — when he the message has read o're , pretends he never heard my name before : lord how i wonder who this man should be , that sends this sad complaining note to me ? i knew indeed a wealthy man o' th name , but cannot guess the person whence this came : tho' he and i a thousand times have try'd pleasures , when sailing with a monied tide , but now my person 's utterly forgot , and i in gaol condemn'd alive to rot : strange logick ! can the walls of prison frame , and prove the same man is not now the same ? but if by some most unexpected fate , by some friend's death i 'm left a good es̄tate , and from confinement sally once again , of my acquaintance , what a mighty train , who either shun'd or knew me not before , come cringing now , and wait upon my door ! in anti-chamber wait till i shall rise , and with their wishes my good fortune bless , while each one strives to do what ere he can , for me the fortunate , the happy man ; with folding arms my body they entwine , their fortunes , services , their souls are mine , with winged haste at my commands they run , all court the rising , none the setting sun. if gold in friendship can such wonders shew , in love , what strange amazing things 't wil do ? not wit nor vertue half so much can move , as pow'rful gold in arts of making love : a thousand accidents tempt flesh and blood , but powerful guinea cannot be withstood , for 't is a truth which mankind will confess , that ready mony speaks all languages . am i than aesop more deform'd in shape , a prating , chatt'ring , laughing , am'rous ape , and justly can pretend no other sense , but noisy nonsense and impertinence ; if i with guineas have my pockets lind , what signifies the shape of corps or mind ? the ladies will adore any person more , than that of handsom f — g , heretofore . i am their dearest dear , their fubbs their honey their angels nay their very heav'n for mony : i am more welcom to their longing arms , than is a man possest with thousand charms , of person , birth , wit , valour , tho i want each quality , i am their darling saint . for mony , husbands will their wives decoy , and teach 'em to commit the guilty joy ; ride out of town , that the gallant may come to tast forbidden pleasures in his room . and if he unawares should chance to be spectator of their am'rous privacy , is deaf and blind , and cannot hear nor see ; nay some obliging cuckolds will do more , bring the spark home and after hold the door , think horns no shame , if mony by them come , and boast and glory in their cuckoldom . mothers for this their daughters will betray to man of quality , if he but pay . with charming guineas in the ballance laid , what a poor trifle is a maidenhead ? t is found and lost , t is lost and found again , as is the cully found 'mongst monied men : to those will pay for such forbidden crimes , it shall be sold 'bove thirty sev'ral times , and the crackt girl more timerous appear , than lucrece was when tarquin ravisht her . too well this infamous deceit is known : to the lewd bawds of this luxurious town , when a raw country girl away they lead , and turn the penny by her maiden-head . how many jilts , cracks , prostitutes and whores their sexes scandal , natures common shores , are there in town ( sad wretches as they are ) who once were very vertuous , young and fair ? and who had vertuous been this very hour , had it not been for gold's almighty power . gold first their blindfold reason led astray , ( for who its mighty power can disobey ? gold to forbidden paths first brought them in , and gold alone informd 'em how to sin. the greatest blessing which the god's have sent , t' inrich mankind withall , is true content , which humble poor as well as rich enjoy ; lifes only cordial , lifes true solid joy , yet this rare jewel is too often sold , and ev'ry day exchang'd for shining gold. can it be thought an old grey withered sot , who has in 's grave one foot already got , with palsies , aches , rheumes , and gout opprest , no pith in 's back , nor vigour in his breast , can be a welcome present to the arms of a young creature blest with thousand charms ? yet this we see is almost daily done , and fair young phillis , by old damon won ; whilst other shepherds witty gay and young , who by her side have tun'd their pipes and sung , wanting the blessing of a large estate , which settlement and joynture may create , are slighted — whilst the youthful charming bride , lyes by an old mans unperforming side . the price of beauty what man does not know ? alas the value on t is fallen so low , each petty chapman now with purse in hand , has it at minutes warning to command . women like books and pictures now a days , are put to sale , and who the price can raise , not he whose merits decently can crave 'em , no , no , the lucky he bids most shall have 'em : youth , wit and valour will not now prevail : but yet almighty mony cannot fail . with what impatience have i often seen , a youthful bride , who never saw eighteen , running with nimble haste to opening door , to meet her good old man of sixty four , clap her warm , soft , plump rosy cheek to his , and nestle through his beard to get a kiss ? play with her hand upon his grisly chin , and softly say , my dear where have you been ? well , you 'r unkind , a naughty man i vow , i thought you 'd been at home two hours agoe , dinner 's quite spoil'd — but yet for you my dear , i have reserv'd some lobsters and caveir i almost longd to see you — he mean while , for these endearments can't afford a smile , but in his clownish way says — you 've your will , but pleasure must give place to business still : gripewell and i have got this very morning , a thousand pounds — a sum not worth the scorning , and tho the times are cloudy like the weather , at honest ned's took one half pint together . come come — and there perhaps he leads her in , a sight would almost tempt a man to sin , and from him , since he values not the pleasure , to snatch the lovely young and tempting treasure . for mony thus will virgins throw their charms within the circle of an old mans arms ; tho' frost to fruits , and mildew to the corn , to armour rust , or fits to child new born , cannot more fatal and destructive prove , than age to beauty , impotence to love : her youthful heat new blood in him inspires , while he by 's coldness damps her warmer fires , his aged limbs do gout or palsie rack ; she must by sympathy his ills partake , becoming in short time ( a thing most common ) a sickly pining drooping old young woman . shift we the scene now to a close alcove , and see a youthful spark pretending love , ( for sure no man can be so void of sense to think 't is any thing but meer pretence ) to an old withered beldam of threescore , of swelling bags blest with a numerous store : what mighty wonders cannot mony do ? tho she deform'd as mother shipton shew , he gripes her palsied hand , and vows and swears no beauty at the court with her compares , so soft her skin , her eyes such lustre hold , nature design'd she never should grow old , while she with smiles , ( which are indeed grimace ) adding more wrinkles to her wainscoat face , half opening of her mouth to her new lover , fearing she should the want of teeth discover , cries , truly sir , i wonder you should spy , one charm in me to please your curious eye : i 'm old , t is true , but yet there was a time , tho 't is long since , when i was in my prime : this face had charms — ah madam ! pray forbear , say not it had , they 're still too plainly there , says he , and pushing on his am'rous rage , tells her , that wine and beauty gain by age. she overcome , poor thing , by his soft words , at last to take him for her spouse affords : to church they go , on which the world may say ( that truly now december weds with may ; while he receives a pension during life , to do the drudg'ry of an old rich wife . t were endless , should i but attempt to run , o're all the miracles by mony done . what mighty magick is there in a fee , to turn the very scales of equity ? wrong shall be right , and right again be wrong , if but with gold you touch the lawyers tongue , and the coifd serjeant , when at barr he pleads , shall speak or true or false , as guinea leads ; and votes of scarlet judges bought and sold , if purchased by the mighty power of gold. the roman church her self is not asham'd , to say the poor , and only they are damn'd ; the rich shall stay short time in purgatory , but no poor wretch directly went to glory : no , he must fry in purgatory kitchin , till mony can his soul from thence be fetching . no colledge doctor in his guilded coach , the cottages of poor will ere approach . phisicians come not where there are no fees , none cure or plead in forma pauperis . mony what wonders can it not effect ? who ever faild that had it , of respect ? t' will make the blind man see , the lame man walk , make deaf men hear , and dumb men loudly talk ; t' will make an old man have a youthful skin , and beldams , old as aldgate , not sixteen ; make cowards valiant , and make blockheads wise , and from low dunghills make th' ignoble rise ; get pardons for , and licences to sin , tempt virgins , and unwary youth draw in ; depress the good and vertuous with disgrace , and set up vice to lord it in their place : but ah ! what pen its miracles can tell , which heaven purchases and saves from hell ? finis . englands looking in and out presented to the high court of parliament now assembled. by the author r.m. knight. maddison, ralph, sir. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a06731 of text r212274 in the english short title catalog (stc 17178). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 53 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a06731 stc 17178 estc r212274 99835831 99835831 56 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a06731) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 850:15) englands looking in and out presented to the high court of parliament now assembled. by the author r.m. knight. maddison, ralph, sir. [8], 28 p. printed by t. badger for h. mosley, and are to be sold at his shop at the princes armes in saint pauls church-yard, london : 1640. r.m. = ralph maddison, whose name appears on a3r. the first leaf is blank. reproductions of the original in the british library. appears at umi microfilm "early english books, 1475-1640" reel 850 and at umi microfilm "early english books, 1641-1700" reel 260 (same copy filmed twice). eng money -england -early works to 1800. a06731 r212274 (stc 17178). civilwar no englands looking in and out. presented to the high court of parliament now assembled. by the author r.m. knight. maddison, ralph, sir 1640 10250 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 b the rate of 3 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2002-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-05 tcp staff (oxford) sampled and proofread 2002-05 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion englands looking in and ovt . presented to the high court of parliament now assembled . by the author r. m. knight . london , printed by t. badger for h mosley , and are to be sold at his shop at the princes armes in saint pauls church-yard 1640. the humble request of sir ralph maddison knight , to the honourable house of commons , die martis primo decembris 1640. that it would please this honourable assemblie of the house of commons , to take into their consideration the decay of our kingdomes commodities , and especially the wools of this kingdom of late yeares much decayed in price ; which ( if it continue ) will assuredly pull downe the revenue of king and subject , to the unspeakeable losse of all in generall . which your humble petitioner conceiveth to come by two speciall or principall wayes or meanes , both of them worthy of your high and noble consideration ; namely , the overballancing of trade in commerce with strangers , and the marchandizing exchange by bills used betweene us and strangers ; both which doe tend to , and in truth doe drive out our kingdomes coine both gold and silver for the making up the unequall and prejudiciall ballance of trade , and the vsurious and canker-eating contracts daily practised betweene us and strangers , and especially the bankers the first movers therein . and because the words ( ballance of trade , or commerce and marchandizing exchange ) must of force bee mentioned because they are the words of art of science well knowne to many in this honourable assembly , who have beene versed by trade or travell in forraine parts : yet because i suppose there be more here assembled that have not beene ver●ed , or given their mind to marchandizing businesse ; i humbly crave pardon , if i be bold ( for the help of all mens understanding herein ) to explaine these words in as few words as i can . and first , of ( ballance ) all men doe know what it meaneth in buying and selling at home , but the word ( trade ) put thereto , is obscure , till it be opened . ballance of trade then , is the computation , or taking the account or valuation of all the marchandize exported or imported into this kingdome every yeare ; which ( being cast up ) may tell us whether wee get or lose , or what losse or gaine commeth to the kingdomes commerce that yeare the ballance is cast up . and if it be found that we import more than we export , then that which doth want of making the ballance equall , must be fulfilled with our kingdomes stocke or store of mony ; which ( in processe of time ) will eate up , or consume ( to a small portion ) our moneys that should beat or maintaine our home-commerce and markets ; ( per consequence ) lessen the prices of our woolls , corne , lands , and what not ? for this is infallibly true in common sence , that where much money is , there the prices are greater ; and where little money is , there the prices of all things are lesse , and goe low . hence it was , and will be said this proverbe , regina pecunia donat , for money will beare rule in price in despight of all men that say no . but i do conjecture ( as some have said to my selfe ) some in this assembly will say ; how is it possible that all goods or marchandize , going out of this realme and comming in should be accounted ? this is a thing that to some wise men doth seeme impossible . to this i answer , it is no new thing , that the valuation or rate or price of all goods going out and into this realme , hath beene put into bookes duely kept in every port of this kingdome , and once a yeare at a certaine time all brought into the kings remembrancers office in the exchequer , and there to be collected and made up into one grosse summe of all out bound and another grosse summe of all in bound goods ; whereby the king might ( as in a mirrour ) see the face of his common weale whether it grew fat or leane ; and this ( under favourable correction be it spoken ) was one amongst other causes wherefore custome of old was due to the king by common reason or law , for maintenance of the officers that attended this care in every port , and is so ancient as in henry the third his time it was called ( the old custome : ) before all memory of record : this may suffice in brevity for the words , ballance of trade . secondly , the word exchange , all know what it is to make a change ; marchandizing exchange is knowne onely to marchants , and those that in forraine travell have used it : and few of either sort doe know the par or equall exchange of coynes betweene forrainers and us . exchange of marchants was first invented for saving of portage and keeping of moneys at home in every kingdom , beside the hazard that might befall in carrying of treasure ( as luggage ) from kingdome to kingdome , which otherwise , upon every severall contract ( made to be paid forrainly ) would bee exported ; and every traveller beyond the seas should carry his expending mony with him . but now , if by equall or disadvantageous exchange a man deliver an hundred pounds here to bee paid so much like quantity of gold or silver againe there beyond seas ; this both keepeth the money at home . but if by unequall exchange a gaine may bee had by overvaluing of our money beyond seas , as now they be overvalued , especially in france , not only a marchant making contract as aforesaid , or a traveller not knowing the mystery , shall lose ten or more in the hundred . and the marchant observer of the mystery , ( for the gaine had thereby ) export the money in specie , but more especially gold , when visibly without change of species he may retaine ten of those pieces and more in the hundred , and there with ninety pieces pay the hundred pieces received here ; and this is the overt or open fallacy , now too frequently in france practised upon or by the denomination of that coine : but there is another more secret which is practised by exchangers to bee considered from the finenesse of the coine ; wherein is to be noted , that all princes coines are not alike , for some have more ailay or copper mixt with the gold or silver , which were a long discourse to enter into , and upon agitation of this businesse of exchange , will be opened sufficiently there being only two chiefe wayes of deceit ; denomination , or open deceit ; the second , intrinsicke or inward value , consisting in the mixture of copper more or lesse put into the gold or silver . it is not unknowne that there bee other great causes which doe hinder our prizes and procure damage to our home commodities ; namely , exportation of gold and silver , diversion of bullion and home-consumption of gold and silver , inhancing of our moneys gold and silver in forraine parts , and especially in france as aforesaid , and home-bred monopolian practises ; all which will fall into consideration upon the handling of the two first causes above said . whereupon my humble request is you would be pleased to cause the ballance of trade to be truly cast up and presented unto you with all speed , as also to take notice how the exchange goeth betweene us and forraigne marchants . and ( if both be found prejudiciall ) to set such convenient remedy as hath beene formerly in ancient time used , or by your grave wisedomes be found more agreeable to these moderne times ; and hee shall ever rest a devoted servant unto our king and country , with his hartie prayers for prosperity of both . r. m. dread soveraigne , and right honourable lords , with the honourabl house of commons : for unto you all , i humbly present these my labours , ( for that it doth concerne every one , from the king to the beggar ) expecting neither profit nor praise for the same , ministerium oblatum ne sordescat . my single duty bindeth me , ( as a member in a ship in time of distresse , ) to put to my hand to worke in the same . one of the leakes in this ship or house , is the running out or leaking of our monies into other lands by way of overballancing in trade or marchandizing exchange , or both ; the two principall causes of our trades decay , and want of monies . and for that marchandizing exchange is mysticall , and full of secret deceit , chiefely nourished and directed by the bankers or lenders of monies beyond seas for unconscionable gaine ; and ( by secret or close conveyance ) to worke out and carry away our bullion or monies in specie , as it hath been divers yeares , and yet is visibly seene in france , and other parts beyond the seas ; therefore ( imitating herein the wisest of men ) i shall seeke out plaine and easie words to expresse the same ; not tying my selfe to the words of art , thereby endeavouring to facilitate , and make the difficulty thereof easie to every mans understanding not versed therein , ( if they have a desire : ) wherein i shall observe the method of the wisest instructor , who first created the light to enlighten the succeeding world , and after manifested the creatures by the same ; so i shall ( god willing ) first open the use of the marchant exchange , and after set forth some abuses of the same to all mens understanding , and lastly , the remedy . so , praying to god to prosper your labours in all happinesse , i rest your humble and devoted subject and servant . ralphe maddison knight . in the first place then it behooveth to shew the composing of the weight of silver and gold ; silver weight is thus composed : a pound troy containeth twelve ounces ; an ounce containeth twentie pennie weight , a pennie weight containeth twentie foure graines of wheat , taken out of the middest of the wheat eare , et e converso , 24. graines taken out of the middst of the wheat eare doe make a penny weight ; twenty penny weight doe make an ounce , and twelve ounces do make a pound troy . where note , that a pound taile is but foure ounces , which before king henry the sixt his time , was all one with the pound troy , he then did raise it by prerogative to 30. pence the ounce , which caused the price of an ounce of silver to passe at that price in currant payment betwixt man and man ; and a pound weight troy to passe at 30s which before was but 20s . thus by dividing the ounce troy into so many more peeces , hee lost so much in his revenues , customes , and other duties belonging to him , as he had multiplied the pence in number , and this is called , raising the coine in denomination . and in successe of time , between henry the sixt , and the beginning of edward the sixth his time , the ounce was raised to sixtie pence , and so it remained ever since constant , notwithstanding the raising of it in forraigne parts ; for it was found by experience of our former raisings , that raising of the ounce weight , was but a temporarie remedy to keepe the monies at home , and stood no longer then they raised againe beyond seas ; this may suffice for the weight of silver , consisting now of sixtie pence the ounce , twelve ounces to the pound troy . the gold pound being the same in weight with the silver is otherwise composed in other termes ; as thus , the gold casteth away the name of penny weight , thus , a pound weight of troy of pure gold is said to bee 24. carrats , and every carrat containeth foure graines , two carrats and an ounce are one weight , a graine and halfe a quarter of an ounce are one weight . next followeth in order to know the composition of the mixture or finenesse of gold and silver ; and first , of silver , because it is the common market man both at home and abroad . here is to be noted that no monyes be made of pure silver in no mints , the reason is , because in its purenes and puritie the silver is as flexable as lead almost , and therefore not so usefull in its purity , as when it is somthing hardned with copper ; even so it is with gold . there is no pure gold minted in any place i know of , but hath some allay or copper , and if it hath beene heretofore , it is so ancient that no memory thereof remaineth to us ; and if it were at any time done so , the alteration began with some prince that ment and did deceive others with so doing : for it is a powerfull meanes to fetch his neighbours coines from them to bee minted in his mints ; which being perceived , his neighbours did mix their coines also , thinking thereby to fetch theirs home againe by the same meanes it went away ; but ( as it is before said of denomination ; ) so then and now it falleth out to bee the same in imbasing the coine , as it was or is in denomination ; but a temporary remedy and to no purpose but hurt , as i shall tell you hereafter , when i come to speake of the inconveniences of raising the coine by denomination or debasing of it by allay or copper , which be all one in effect and worketh alike . so then you having the weights of silver and gold in your understanding and memory ; it remaineth to let you know that almost all princes coynes doe differ in finenesse or mixture , few do agree just together , insomuch as spaine having foure mints or more under his command , two in the west indies mexico and perue , and two in the continent of spaine , lisbon and sivile , yet all foure differ in finenesse one from the other something , for which there is some reason to be given in its proper time : so likewise there is some difference in finenesse in other princes coines , as between us and france , and the low-countries , arch-duches , and united provinces , lubecke , hamborough , stoad , and the imperiall cities of germany . and for this cause of differences , ours consisting of eleaven ounces two penny weight fine , france of eleaven ounces fine , low-countries of tenne ounces , and some of nine ounces-fine in the pound troy . it behoveth us who have the finest standard or mixture of silver in our monyes , to beware that our fine monyes bee not drawne out from us to maintaine the baser mints ; for if denomination have a power to work that effect ; much more hath embasing of coine being not so easily perceived as the other , and to watch over them in all places , least we be deceived by any of them . but some will say ; what neede wee bee put to trouble to watch others , cannot we more easilie doe as others doe ? to this i answer , if there were no harme in so doing at home , yet to alter with them that alter or may alter , requireth a continuall watch over all others with whom wee have commerce , or else , how should we know when they alter , or know what mynt it is that draweth our monyes from us ? and if we should alter our mint as often as others may alter , wee should ever be altering and have no rest at home ; this , perconsequence must needs bring a confusion in short time , when once moving our mynt hath made great alterations amongst us at home , and will ever doe so when we shall alter ; it is the greatest harme to king and subjects , as shall be shewed ( god willing ) hereafter . in the meane time , give mee leave to let you know , that in or about the yeare of our lord one thousand five hundred fiftie and five , we being in amitie with all princes and neighbour-mynts , there was a generall consent amongst princes and states to make a treatie for the concord in mynt affaires , to keepe a paritie in coynes , which treaties were frequent in elder times , but now , ( by reason of wars neere hand , in france , low countries , and germany ) is omitted . and in king henry the eight , his time , there is mention made of a treatise betweene the king and the arch-duches of austria , wherein it was found that the difference of an halfe penny in an angell of gold ( which now is about three pence in the pound tale ) it would be sufficient to exhaust his treasure out of his kingdome , and by no meanes would suffer it . then per consequence what doe they which at this time doe raise both gold and silver , twenty in the hundred above others ? the answer to this is , they doe breake the law of nations , which is a just cause of warre amongst princes , to goe about to draw away their neighbours coine by inhancing , by denomination , or debasing the finenesse by allay , for all make one effect as aforesaid . but what care they to breake the law of nations that purpose to have warre ? then this is answered for that ; and must we then of consequence have our moneys exhausted ( as they are ) or make warre , and by the next consequence be undone , is there none other remedy ? there is , but i referre the remedy till another time and place . now i have laid open the composing of the weight and finenesse of gold and silver , i am to shew the cause of exporting of our gold and silver , before aremedy can be applyed . and this is a secret to most men to know the cause , and will be controverted by them that have profit therby ; and if we believe them that controvert it , the cause is lost ; herein is to be noted , what ecclesiastes ( as concerning marchant exchange saith : trust not a marchant in the businesse or touching exchange , a labourer , in the point of hyre , nor a souldier in the ending of warres . beare in remembrance the weight and finenesse of our owne coyne especially , without which knowing and remembring , you cannot fall upon nor understand the true cause of exhansting of our monyes , which is the marchandizing exchange , nor yet the remedy ; therefore i pray you pause upon that which hath been said a while , unlesse you have been versed or do understand the mint businesse , and composing of gold and silver , which hath beene declared in some measure . also take this with you for a principle ; moneys can neither bee advanced in denomination , nor a pound troy or an ounce be made into more pieces of silver , nor debased by putting in more copper or allay , without generall detryment to the respublike : a perillous thing to deale withall without doubt , and most especially in land common weales . and wherefore more in land common wealths , then in maritime and marchandizing common weales ? i must tell you , or you will not beleeve . maritime and marchants can immediately change with the changer , without detriment ; the marchant can immediately set a price of his marchandize , according to the worth of the money ; and the artificer and labourer set a price accordingly to his labour or hire ; which cannot be done in terraine state , more especially in our kingdome ; which i forbeare for the present , till i shew the inconveniencies or mischiefes that would follow the alteration of our mynt , and will be most pernicious to undertake any such thing . and for that i have already named the marchant exchange to bee the efficient cause of exhausting our moneys in generall , thus it is ; marchants exchange was first invented for the saving of portage , and keeping of moneys at home in every kingdome , besides the hazard that might befall in carrying of treasure ( as luggage ) from kingdome to kingdome , which otherwise upon every severall contract ( made to be paid forraignly ) would be exported ; and every traveller beyond the seas would carry his expending money with him . but now , ( if by equall or disadvantagoeus exchange ) a man deliver an hundred pounds here , to bee paid so much like quantitie of gold or silver againe there beyond seas ; this both keepeth the money at home , and saveth the traveller a labour and hazard in carrying the money over . but if ( by unequall exchange ) a gaine may be had by overvaluing our monies beyond seas , as now they bee overvalued , especially in france ; not only a marchant making contract as aforesaid , or a traveller ( not knowing the mystery ) shall lose tenne or twenty in the hundred : and the marchant ( observer of the mysterie ) will ( for the gaine had thereby ) export the same in specie , but more especially gold , when visibly without change of species , hee may retaine tenne or more of those peices ; and there with ninety ( or lesse ) of those peices , pay the hundred pounds or peices received here ; and this is the overt or open fallacie by mutation of place , now too frequently used , by the denomination of that coine . but there is another more secret , which is practised by exchangers , to be considered from the finenesse of the coyne ; wherein is to bee noted that all princes coynes are not alike , for some have more allay or copper mixt with the gold or silver , as before hath bin touched ; there being onely two chiefe wayes of deceit ; denomination , or open deceit ; the second , intrinsecall or inward finenesse , consisting in the mixture of copper more or lesse . and because our gold might not be seene too visible , and make too great a shew in france ; there is now an ordinance in france to bring the forraigne gold ( so fast as it commeth into his exchequer , ) into the myn● to bee there minted into french crownes double and treble and quatreble peices , calling them lowyzens , and minteth them after the proportion of fifteene to one of silver , we holding in our proportion thirteene to one ; which very mynt is able by that meanes to draw all our gold away ( even that which is left ) so fast as it can be gleaned up , if remedy be not provided speedily . and occasion now offereth it selfe to give us to understand this observation following ; that if disproportion between gold and silver be not observed aright ; gold may buy silver out of the realme , and silver may buy gold out of the realme , and the realme deprived of the one by the other ; the raising of the gold here , did cause more gold then silver to come to the mynt ; and by the same meanes , it is called from us into france ; which plainely sheweth that the raising of gold or silver , or disproportioning one by another , is but temporary , and in the end proveth no better than a fallacy , as inhancing and debasing , and they all bee ; and the truth is , no state stands sure that stands not of the rules of right . here is to be noted that silver prizes gold , and gold prizes not silver ; the reason is , because silver is of more common use , though gold be more esteemed of rich men , according to the common adage , bonum quo communius , eo melius , it is also better for the kingdome , that more silver then gold bee minted , for silver is not so hastily nor easily exported , as gold will bee : and there will be alwayes some canker wormes or money brokers to export silver or gold , so long as trade is ; for remedy of which there must be some allowance made in the ballance of trade . but something else commeth to minde , that hindreth mee yet for speaking of the ballance a while , which is the inconveniences that befall this our state , when our monies are raised or made little ; the moving of our mynt must either be in imbasing the gold or silver , or advancing it in denomination , for back it cannot be brought when once it is raised , and hath obtained currancy ; it is a dangerous thing to meddle with the mynt , either in imbasing the money , or cutting it smaller with the sheares ; for if it be embased , first , it causeth counterfeiting ; secondly , that part , or so much as is embased , will carry so much fine silver out of the realme ; and when it is perceived , the amends is as evill as the disease . all those in whose hands the base money shall bee , shall bee the loosers of so much as is minted within the realme before it bee decryed , and what grievance would this bee ? able even to cause the commonalty hate the governement , and fall into uproares , and unnaturall rebellions , as it hath beene in times past when the commons rebelled and wrote these words in their banner or standard , rex est qui bene regit . if the money bee made lesse , it giveth so much to the le●●ye or borrower ; the kings revenue that standeth upon constant fees of his crowne , ancient crown lands lease , all rent charges , land of the bishops or church , and such like that bee leased , shall loose so much ; the noblemen , gentlemen , and vsurers shall part with so much in proportion as the mony is advanced , so commodities will be advanced accordingly ; so whether monies be raised or debased , it maketh disturbance most miserable in effect . therefore there is no stirring of our mynt neither up nor downe , for the reasons aforesaid , no gaine to the kingdome but infallable losse to some part , heart burning and discontentment fit to bring in a forraigne enemy will ensue , the tampering with the mynt . therefore i conclude this point , that there is no safe way , but to stand constant at home , and change with the changer abroad , to keepe our moneys at home . and first to prove the marchant exchange un-equally carried , is the efficient cause of exporting our money , give me leave to know whether plenty of moneys make our prices to rise , and scarcitie of money make small prices , wch no man ( i think ) will denie , and that commodities are prised according to the goodnesse of the coyne , or to what end serveth fine gold and fine silver , if it be not to prize all things ? and if in our commerce with other nations , we do give more fine gold or silver then we receive , or undertake our coynes in commerce with others , it is a sufficient out-let or way to carry out our money or bullion ; when thereby those that perceive the advantage to be had , shall leave the true use of trading in marchandize , and turne mony marchants , or exporters of bullion or monyes , for no lawes are prevalent against gaine ; and if we do not carry an even hand with forrainers in preserving and encreasing our moneys , as forrainers doe , we shall in small time undervalue our commodities for want of money , and consequently over-ballance our trade in price or qualitie , and continuing the same course , send out our monyes in change for commodities , and have no more commodities then we had before ; which course will infallibly impoverish the realme exceedingly : when there is a want of money or wasting of bullion , the commodities of the realme wooll and woollen manufactors , will fall in price ; the commodities falling , rents will fall accordingly ; when rents doe fall by such a necessitie , the necessitie which spreads its selfe over the land : and ( tenants having taken leases ) at inhanced prices , of countrey commodities , not knowing the efficient cause of this change , will lay the cause upon the land-lords and grow in hatred towards them , not knowing how to hold their farmes , nor what to doe if they give them over ; this is a fearefull effect that followeth the want of a covenient stocke of money to maintaine the price , and to beat or maintaine our home commerce , proceeding from forraigne cause , and not from land-owners or tenants at home ; so it followeth , that those that looke to the homecause ; as evill making of our manifactures , or such like , doe not amend the matter nor raise the prices , so long as there is no more moneys to make the prices any greater ; for it is infallably true , much money much price ; little money little price ; and it is as true that the inhancing of our gold and silver in france , will draw our money into france , if remedy bee not had ; for the open reason aforesaid , namely , the inhancing of gold and silver beyond the sea , and specially in france , and this is openly done to the view of all the world . but there is a more secret way practised by marchants and bankers , which hath long continued a secret byting or canker-eating vsury , namely , the marchandizing exchange , which at the first was devised for a good and moderate gaine to the lender and ready dispatch in their affaires , and for avoyding of hazard in postage of monyes , which being abused is turned into inestimable losse and damage to the prince and kingdome wherein it is not understood by the marchants in generall that use it . to avoyd the carrying of moneyes out of every princes realme , and that every prince might have the sole use of their own monys within their dominions , & for the aforesaid causes , a certaine exchange was devised ; grounded upon the weight and finenes of the moneys of each country , just value for value , the taker or borrower to give the lender usance for the time according to reason , and so might our exchange of england ( grounded upon the same reason ) bee continued ; and the law of the land commandeth the same . and thereupon the true valuation of our mony maketh the price of exchange , for every place wheresoever we have to doe ; and the want of knowing and putting into use this mystery of comparing our coynes , with the coynes of others , value , for value ; bringeth in the abuse , and an inestimable damage to this kingdome ; for wee ought to examine and compare our weight aforesaid with the weight of other countries ; and the finenesse of our standard aforesaid , with the finenesse of the standard of the moneys of other countries ; and if we differ not with them in the proportion betweene the gold and silver , then may our exchange runne at one price both for the gold and silver , the valuation of each countryes moneys being taken according to weight and finenesse as aforesaid . and if the proportion of gold and silver of other monyes do differ from ours , then must wee have two distinct valuations , one for the gold , the other for the silver , as now there is difference in proportion in france , from ours in england ; and hereby shall wee find how much fine silver or gold our pound starling containeth , and how much of other moneys of germany , france , the low countries , the east countries , or else-where , we are to have to countervaile the same in the like weight and finenesse answerable to ours , whether it be by the pound , crowne , ducket , or doller , giving alwayes value for value , which amongst marchants was and is called parre . this due and equitable course in exchange being abused , and through the ignorance of marchants of not examining the truth , but taking the price of exchange upon trust , from the bankers who rule the price of exchange , this trade of exchange is become very deceiveable and damageable to our kingdome ; the marchant making his account from the price of exchange , as it goeth when he useth it , and not from the true parre or equality required ; and from hence groweth the losse of our moneys , and the exchange is become predominant over our moneys , as moneys doe rule commodities ; and is the very efficient cause of this over ballancing of commodities in price before spoken of , and consequently of the decrease of our wealth , and exportation of our moneys , when we are driven thereby to give as much of our native commodities for forraigne commodities as we did before the abuse , and monies to boot to fulfill the same quantity . this exchange is made properly by bills , when money is delivered simply here in england , and bills delivered or received againe for the payment thereof in some other country beyond sea , or when the like is done beyond the seas , and money received here in england ; and that upon a certaine price agreed upon betweene party and party , which is termed the price of exchange , whereof the marchants , or rather the bankers have the onely and whole disposing , and buy and sell their commodities beyond the seas accordingly , without that few or none of them doe looke into the nature or inward value of the exchange , but onely to the present object , which is to know how the price thereof goeth at the time when they have occasion to deale there with either in taking up or delivering out monyes by exchange ; whereas , if they will be true exchangers indeed , they must know perfectly the weight and fitnesse of every countries coyne , hereby to render every one his just and due proportion as aforesaid ; and this is , par pari referre , with consideration to the lender according to the time agreed upon . and because i have heretofore attributed the ruling of the exchange to the bankers , rather then to the generall or comon marchants ; it behooveth me ( for the enlightening of your understanding , and illustration of the businesse of exchange , to shew what a banker is . a banke is properly a collection of a great quantity of the ready monyes of a province , common weale or city , into the hands of some persons , licensed and established therunto by publique authority , erected with great solemnity in the view of all the people and inhabitants , shewing great store of gold and silver , as belonging to the persons so established , which is to them an attractive to perswade and allure the common people to bring their monyes into these bankers hands ; so that these persons or bankers , doe becom ( as it were ) the generall servants or cassiers of that city , province , or common weale ; the bankers have their factors or correspondency in the chiefe places in christendome , and doe keepe account with every man of whom they have received any money into their banke . and generally all men of wealth that be marchants , are desirous to please them , and to bring their monies into the banke , in regard of double and treble credit they give to their compartners , which they doe by assignation without laying any out of the banke . such and greater devises have they and many other too long now to recite ; the money ( still remaining in the bankers hands ) is imployed by them to other uses ; as to the ingrossing of forraigne commodities , to englands prejudice , and such like feats , making monies to ebbe and flow at their pleasure , when they please ; and to that purpose , the heads of every banke doe set price and agree upon it by common consent at their ferias or generall faire for monies onely : and still their eye or devises tend to the beating downe of our english , and raising their native commodities ; which cunning our marchants doe not countermand , as in old times , when the staplers that were intrusted with our staple commodities , were sworne to advance our kingdomes commodities to their power ; as also to bring into the realme , a fifth part of their exitus in money . but as concerning the point of exchange , it is most certaine that neither difference of weight , finenesse of standard , nor valuation of mony can be any true cause of exporting of our moneys , so long as a due course is holden in exchange ; but this due course being abused , causeth ( as aforesaid ) our moneys to be exported , and maketh scarcitie thereof , which abateth the price of our home commodities , and ( on the contrary side ) advanceth the price of the forraigne commodities , by reason of plenty of money there , encreased by ours , sent thither . but to this , may be objected ; if this be true , as it is very likely , then it would follow that our commodities would also be deare where the plenty of mony is ; true it is , it would be so , but that they have two crafty devises to prevent the rising of our commodities ; one is , our marchants being takers of moneys here to pay there , they know they must sell , and do profer the price according to the goods in bought , which they know as well as they that bought them ; and also they have toleration of their moneys to passe farre above their value with them , and to the greater transportation of ours , and hinderance of importation of any to us . therefore , to conclude ; there is no remedy but in the watch of the exchange , to preserve our owne at home , and our ample trade of woollen commodities will advance the ballance . an high exchange hindreth moneys to come from the east , diverts the rialls of eight that come from the west , and hindreth imployment at home . a low exchange exporteth our money in specie , for gaine ; wherefore neither high , nor low exchange is advantageous , but prejudiciall to us , only now a medium is the best ; giving leave to plenty or scarcitie , as necessity or plenty inviteth , and most agreeable to right and equity to all men ; which otherwise carryed , they have three wayes of exportation ; namely , by commodities , monyes , and exchange ; but there are but two wayes of importation ; namely , commodities , and exchange , whereby commeth a notable over-ballancing of forraine commodities ; and bee assured , the gaines to bee sought upon moneys , doth impeach the gaines to bee had upon our commodities , and beateth downe our prices at home , and our commodities being beat downe , it is a great cause of carrying out our moneys to fulfill , or equall the ballance . the moneys exported ( as they now bee ) causeth a plenty of moneys beyond sea , so that our marchants buying deare , must sell deare ; which bringeth a wonderfull overballancing , and causeth us to feed upon our native soyle , giving the benefit thereof to another nation ; whereas wee should live by the gaines of our home commodities , being fold to other nations : and now we are driven to seeke a gain upon forraigne commodities , to the great prejudice of our owne country , wherein , though the marchants bee gainers , yet the king dome generally beareth the losse , and they feed still upon their mothers belly ; whereunto they are the more instigated through the immoderate use of forraigne commodities , which doth not fall out altogether in the quantity , but more in price ; the forraigner growing daily in price , and encreasing upon us ( within this fifty yeares ) a fourth part , more than wee have encreased our moneys still being with us the selfe same , and herein consisteth the over ballancing aforesaid ; for if the forraigne commodities , which are soone consumed , and brought ( as it were ) to dung , shall amount in value , or cost as much or more , than the solid commodities of our land ; certes that land is very negligent and unprofitable in every mans judgment . so then give mee leave to intimate this following , that followeth by the abuse or want of observing the true use thereof ; that our home commodities are abated by the abuse of the exchange foure manner of wayes . first , by scarcitie of money ( which causeth home commodities to bee good cheape ) caused by the unequall exchange . secondly , by the gaine sought upon moneys which otherwise would bee sought upon our commodities . thirdly , by an high exchange with us , which causeth men to deliver that money by exchange , in nature of trade , which otherwise , by them might bee imployed upon our commodities ; likewise by a low exchange which causeth exportation of our moneys . fourthly , by rash sale of our commodities by young marchants , and others , that are driven to pay money taken up by exchange here in england , to keep them doing , thereby spoyling the market of others . forraine commodities ( on the contrary ) are advanced foure manner of wayes . first , through plenty of moneys in other countries , which maketh generally things deare ; which plenty is encreased by our owne moneys , transported to our owne hurt every way . secondly , by a high exchange beyond the seas , whereby men are enclined to buy forraigne commodities , and by a low exchange , when there are no takers up of mony , and therein our excessive use of them , doth encourage them . thirdly , by the tolleration of moneys beyond seas , to goe currant farre above their value ; for by the alteration of moneys , the price of commodities doth alter also ; and this tolleration being an hinderance , for the importation of monyes , causeth the greater quantity of forraigne commodities to be brought over at a dearer rate . fourthly , for that the principall commodities of silkes , velvets , fustians , and such like , are ingrossed by the bankers as aforesaid , that sell them at their pleasure . these both wayes considered , must needs bring an over ballance in our trade , in value to the losse of 500000 a yeare , at least . thus we may consider how the bankers , and every one of our felves do use or rather abuse the exchange , making it a trade for moneys ; and maketh that a byting usury , which was invented for speedy commutation , ease , safety , and moderate gaine to the lender , and marchant borrower indifferently . thus you see , marchandizing exchange ruleth moneys , as moneys ruleth commodities ; and that is fully proved when we shall finde visibly that one sum of mony of one sort and kinde of coyne , hath two prices , and two valuations at one time , exchanging the place only , or country , as for example . you have a peece of twenty shillings , and beyond the seas you may see the same species passe betweene man and man in some place for 22s in some other place at 24s , and in france at 26s , at one and the selfe same time , and money willingly goeth where it is most made on , and whether they worke upon coyned mony , or valuing the ounce or pound at an higher price or rate , then their neighbour princes ; if it bee not carefully looked unto , it worketh the same effect , and one remedy preventeth both . wherefore ( seeing our marchants have no care nor regard of this ) it behooveth our state ( which you represent at this present ) to have a speciall regard and care unto , which i most humbly present to your grave consideration ; least the want of moneys ( when you stand most need of it ) now flying away from us doe still continue the fall of woolls , yet lower , with all other commodities , and your rents and lively-hood to fall , which will be the undoing of your tenants ( turning up your farmes ) impoverishing all trades , and handy crafts , in the whole kingdome exceedingly in generall , which ( in truth ) is the mother of rebellion , procured through a generall decay of all estates , every man being ready to strike the next above him or about him ; and these bee the fearefull effects that follow an unequall exchange , and ( for truth ) the cunning course thereof unknowne to most marchants , and almost all men else , excepting some few that use it for their private and unconscionable gaine , to the kingdomes losse ; like unto the canker or disease called a wolfe , eating and consuming the bosome that first bred it . give mee leave ( before i explaine the conceived remedy ) to informe you , that if any ( to delude time ) will oppose or contradict , that an unequall exchange is prejudiciall to our state ; it is yeelded unto by common assent of all hands , marchants and others , that an unequall exchange is prejudiciall to the state , when is was controverted and determined in king iames his time ; at what time he appointed certaine commissioners for trade , to sit weekely in haberdashers-hall . whereupon it followeth , that for the prevention of publike losse to the kingdome , a partie or equality of exchange should be made knowne to all men that have occasion to use exchange ; having regard to the forbearance , according to time and place ; which is most just and equall for all men , both denizens and strangers . to this exception will be taken , unlesse i doe explaine my selfe , allowing and granting for truth that plenty or scarcity of moneys to be given or taken up , doth beare a sway , even as it is upon the statute made upon usury . if there be plenty of monies , they will be lent under the statute ; and if there be scarcity , there will be more given for the loane then the statute alloweth , by some covert meanes or other , for ( in ttuth ) the good use of marchandizing exchange , is none other but a ready way of borrowing for marchants , without sureties , or delay to be executed ; which moderately used , ( without excessive , or biting vsury ) is both profitable and commendable for all marchants to use , as their occasion requireth . but if it be unequally and abusedly carried , may be justly called , the canker of englands common wealth . and let no marchant thinke but that i am their friend in wishing them ease and remedy herein , that it be not carried at the will of the banker , as it is ; but that it may be used according to the ancient lawes of the kingdome extant for the same . and the practise of the time of queene elizabeth and her proclamation to that purpose ; which lawes and proclamation will appeare upon the debate of this businesse , if you please to take order therein . as also the demonstration of the tables mentioned in the law , one for gold , and another for silver ; as i have seene the like made in king edward the sixt his time , respectively expressing the value of every piece of gold or silver coyne , with whom we have commerce , severally compared with our pound starling , whereby the equality is demonstrated to every marchant that will follow the table of exchange , to avoyd the danger of the law . and because forraigne coynes are daily subject to alteration in finenesse or valuation , after the computation is once made ; it behoveth that there be ( and it is no hard matter ) an observant watch , or diligent eye set over those places of commerce and mints , to send intelligence hither to the guardian of the tables , to alter the table immediately in that point , and to keepe constant at home ; which will be a sufficient guide to defend us from forraigne wrong by any . this table of demonstration once made , will be farre more easie to understand , then any pen or tongue can expresse . this being done and observed , that the forraigne banker or exchanger doe us no harme ; in a small processe of time , our ballance of trade will recover it selfe againe ; and we shall have ( god willing ) a constant thrift to attend our kingdomes labours , and not be wrought upon by any biting vsury by shufts or intervall of time , to wast , or exhaust our treasure , or consume our kingdomes stocke , that should maintaine the price of our kingdomes commodities , rents , and artizens , as sundry times ( in my memory ) it hath done ; but what a kingdome or kingdomes exitus , have we , that is able to beare the losse of so much coyne as we have lost this three or foure yeares , which amounteth neare to two millions of gold , and undoubtedly our silver will follow after , ( and beginneth visibly to goe already ) if remedy bee not had ; to the unspeakeable losse of all the kingdome , as before hath beene declared . these tables of exchange being put in use for our safeguard ; it followeth then ( as good husbands use to doe ) that we take account of our kingdomes thrift , to see yearly how we thrive , also to know by what waies we goe about it , and therein to distinguish what severall trade is beneficiall to our kingdome , or not ; and to set redresse accordingly ( if occasion require it ; ) which is no new thing , but an ancient practise , as might be manifested ; to beginne with that in generall , which must bee examined in every particular trade . first then , that trade or marchant that carrieth out our superfluities , or those commodities wee abound in , and bringeth in those commodities that we want , for them ; is a good trade , or marchant , and deserveth to be nourished , countenanced , and maintained therein , and those that do the contrary , better ordered . now , who knoweth not that we abound in wooll , and woollen commodities , tynne and lead , and some other things , which i name not ? who knoweth not , what we want of our own , but must have it from without us ; namely , gold , silver , iron , and steele , which for brevity i name not ; per consequence it followeth , that those marchants that bring in those said commodities we want , are most to be nourished and favoured before others that doe the contrary . but how , or by what meanes is this trade , or marchant discovered , but by the ancient way of ballance of trade , of late yeares almost growne out of use ; but that it was discovered in the latter time of king iames , and alwayes observed by the wise lord burley , lord treasurer of england . and to what other end was all the port books of the kingdome brought into the custome house of london ; and from thence once a yeare transmitted into the kings remembrancers office in the exchequer ; where one grosse sum of our kingdomes exitus and introitus might be knowne , of all the goods both inward and outward bound , and the value of both accompted ; thereby to know whether we were buyers or sellers ; for it behooveth a father of a family to be a seller , and not a buyer ; and if it be found that we sell more than we buy , we doe well ; if otherwise , it behooveth us to looke about us . as in the generall a view may be had of our publike thrift ; so in every particular trade , their walke being observed , it may be knowne what trade bringeth in or forceth in money , or such things as we want , for therein lyeth a difference to bee observed , and therupon lyeth our kingdomes thrift . as also may be found what trade is hurtfull or damageable ; this publike thrift or reformation ( as i conceive ) would not bee held in a mystery , but be made more common and easie to every intelligent gentleman , because hee is in some sort interessed in the same , for the advancement of the publike good , and therein , his owne particular also . therefore i am bold , and humbly commend the generall , or theoricall studies of the marchandizing exchange , and ballance of trade , unto your wisdome to be regarded ; and for these purposes , the keeping and the observance of the ballance of trade is usefull . there be also many other things to be met with in the observation of the marchant exchange , and ballance of trade , which i forbeare to particularize for avoyding of tediousnesse and dispute that may arise by them that would endeavour to frustrate the businesse ; for private gaine never wanteth colours , and pretexts , to stupisie or inveigle the understanding of such as have not beene versed herein . give me leave ( lastly ) to repeate one thing wice , though the same have in effect beene said before . it is a sure tenet or maxime , that it is necessary for our kingdome to keep constancy in our mynt at home ; so is it as necessary to change with the changer in all forraigne coynes , either gold or silver , reducing all forraigne coynes to a par or equality , with our constant coines ; and to that end , in ancient times there was a paire of tables set forth , expressing the same demonstratively ; the french crowne to answer to fixe of our english shillings ; our unite , to containe three french crownes , and a third ; and so of the dutch rider ; although it goe but for one and twenty shillings , it is of equall value to our unite ; so all forraigne coines severally reduced to our coynes , did shew and expresse , what was to be given and allowed , betweene strangers and us , in accounts ; which is called the marchandize exchange . this equality being knowne and expressed , as aforesaid , wee may bee deceived three manner of wayes ; first , ( if wee watch not forraigne mints ) by the sheares in coyning , whereby it may come to want in weight , though it were of equall finenesse . secondly , by putting in more allay or copper into their moneys , which is not perceived or discovered , but by tryall in the fire , in melting some part , and refyning it , and comparing the remainder of pure silver , to the like quantity of our money refined as theirs was . the third is without lessening or imbasing , to call any of their species higher up ; a way commonly used in forraigne parts , called denomination , which must be watched and prevented by new expressions , as is aforesaid , ( so often as there shall be cause ) by such as the king shall depute for that purpose ; most proper to the mint master , or other skilfull in mint causes ; this is a sure way of preserving our coynes at home ; without which the bankers ( both forraigne and domestick ) have power to deceive our kingdome , and lessen our kingdomes stock of gold and silver , which will turne to a fearefull effect in time , and in few words not to be expressed , and most of all , when this ballance of trade is against us to our losse ; and that country that gaines the ballance , gets our money , be it friend or enemy ; and if we loose in the totall ballance of our trade ; how should we long subsist without home-poverty and consumption ; and in the well governing of the marchant exchange , and ballance of trade , consists our weale or woe , concerning thrift or wasting poverty . finis . imprimatur . tho : wykes . a discourse of the general notions of money, trade & exchanges, as they stand in relation to each other attempted by way of aphorism : with a letter to a minister of state, further explaining the aphorisms, and applying them to the present circumstances of this nation : wherein also some thoughts are suggested for the remedying the abuses of our money / by a merchant. clement, simon. 1695 approx. 72 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a33408 wing c4638 estc r38746 17962632 ocm 17962632 106790 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33408) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106790) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1121:14) a discourse of the general notions of money, trade & exchanges, as they stand in relation to each other attempted by way of aphorism : with a letter to a minister of state, further explaining the aphorisms, and applying them to the present circumstances of this nation : wherein also some thoughts are suggested for the remedying the abuses of our money / by a merchant. clement, simon. 38, [1] p. [s.n.], london printed : 1695. "a merchant" is simon clement--cf. lcna. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng currency question -england. money. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-08 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2006-11 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of the general notions of money , trade , & exchanges , as they stand in relation each to other . attempted by way of aphorism : with a letter to a minister of state , further explaining the aphorisms , and applying them to the present circumstances of this nation . wherein also some thoughts are suggested for the remedying the abuses of our money . by a merchant . london , printed in the year , 1695. a discourse of the general notions of money , trade and exchanges , as they stand in relation each to other , &c. chap. i. of the introduction of commerce and money . 1. 't is not to be doubted , but that the first ages were altogether unacquainted with trade and commerce . 2. for being content with the simple productions of nature , every one furnished themselves therewith by the labour and industry of their own particular families . 3. but when the world became more populous , divers persons addicted themselves to more peculiar managements , either from the propensity of their genius , or the conveniency and aptitude of those habitations that fell to their lot ; some employing themselves chiefly in the breeding of cattel , others of corn , some acquired skill in architecture or building of houses , others applied themselves to the making of utensils and other needful conveniencies . 4. and thus people found a greater convenience in making use of each others assistance , and that they were better suppli'd thereby , than when they were forc'd to divert themselves from their own more peculiar employments , to attempt those things for which they were not so well qualified . 5. by this means then was commerce begun . 6 yet in the beginning 't was manag'd no otherwise than by exchanging commodities for commodities . 7. but this method became very difficult , when people could not readily find mutual demands for those things they had to exchange . 8. some things , either by reason of their being more rare of production , or requiring more art or labour to acquire them , came to obtain a greater value or esteem among men. 9. of these 't is probable that metals gain'd the first estimation , because of their hardness , and the many uses they were applicable to : and among those , gold and silver came to be most valued , as much excelling the others in the perfection of their natural fineness and duration , and being more rare to be found . 10. a small bulk or weight of these finest metals , being esteemed of great value , they were therefore made choice of as the fittest medium for the exchange or purchasing of all other commodities . 11. but as these were subject to be adulterated by the mixture of baser metals , certain standards were agreed upon to adjust the fineness ; and the value thereof was computed by weight . 12. yet that the same might become currant , and the trouble of proving every piece be avoided , 't was found needful , that every prince or state should affix a mark or stamp on such pieces as were currant in that countrey ; thereby giving publick credit to the truth thereof : and this obtained the name of money or coin. chap ii. of the progress and various methods of trade . 13. money then becoming the means whereby all things necessary for human life might be purchased , 14. people exerted their utmost industry for procuring the same , esteeming it their chiefest treasure . 15. but the almighty creator had so disposed the world , that as particular persons , so also did different nations , stand in need of the various productions of each other . 16. and this made way for trade and merchandize , by the carrying and vending the commodities of one countrey into another ; which also occasioned the more frequent use of money . 17. yet did trade admit of very different kinds of management , according to the different occasions of divers countries . 18. sometimes the merchant carried his goods to another countrey , and brought home the whole produce in other commodities of that countrey which were required in his own ; sometimes he brought part goods and part money ; and to some places he was forc'd to carry the greatest value in money for the purchasing such goods as were wanted in his own countrey . 19. either of these trades might be equally profitable to the merchant ; but that trade brings most profit to his countrey , when he returns with most money . 20. yet it may not be disadvantagious to a nation , to send out its money for the purchasing some profitable commodities ; if so be the money they draw in by their trade with other countries , doth in the whole surmount the value they shall so send out . 21. for by this means their people , beasts of burden , and ships ( where they have them ) come to be employ'd , and the greater circulation of riches is made among them . 22. nay even superfluities may be admitted , where they have no worse a consequence upon the publick , than the drawing money from those that most abound in wealth , and causing it to circulate among the needier sort who depend upon trade . 23. likewise when a trading nation doth by such means procure commodities , to export them to other people , who are less industrious in serving themselves ; such a trade is to their advantage , for as much as it returns at last with a surplus of money . 24. from hence 't is evident , that the profit of a trading people , is not to be computed from their negotiations with any particular countrey , whether it be by money or goods , but from the ballance of their trade in general . chap. iii. of the different computations of money in distinct governments . 25. as we have already noted , that money is become the medium of all commerce , we are yet to consider that different nations have very different computations of the value even of this medium . 26. for distinct governments made the allay of their metals finer or courser , and gave their coins such denominations , and as many different species , as they thought necessary to themselves , without regard to the different usage of their neighbours . 27. therefore people do not currantly receive or esteem foreign coins according to the value or computation that foreigners put upon them ; but according to the weight that the silver and gold will yield , reduced to the standard of their own countrey . 28. moreover , silver and gold themselves ( which we may call by the general name of bullion ) are to be considered but as a finer sort of commodities ; and as such , are capable of rising and falling in price , and may be said to be of more or less value in divers places , according to their plenty or scarcity . 29. bullion then may there be reckon'd to be of the higher value , where the smaller weight will purchase the greater quantity of the product or manufacture of the countrey . 30. and according to this rule , the riches or poverty of a countrey is to be computed ; even as the riches of a private man is to be reckon'd from the weight of bullion he can command . 31. 't is therefore an infallible demonstration of the decay of wealth in any countrey , where they are reduced to a necessity of abating the standard of their coins , or causing it to pass above its wonted value ; because he that parts with his commodities , becomes then possessor of a less weight of bullion in lieu thereof . 32. also when the merchant trades to such countries from whence he must make his returns in bullion , he doth not only regard the weight thereof , but hath also consideration to the hazard , time , and charge of transporting it into his own countrey . 33. and this charge is sometimes more , sometimes less , and according to the more or less difficulty of transportation or carriage , occasioned by war or any other contingencies . 34. wherefore there can be no constant standard or adjustment made , to reduce the computations of foreign coins to the exact value of those of our own countrey . 35. yet such alterations upon these most staple and precious commodities can never be great , unless by some extraordinary accidents , which rarely happen . 36. so that a very near regulation is always made by the exchanges : of which we come next to treat . chap. iv. of the introduction and nature of exchanges . 37. in taking notice of the many different managements of trade , we have before shewn , that trading people do from some places import bullion in return of their merchandise sent out , and yet must send bullion to other places , for the purchasing of such goods as they have need to import from thence . 38. those countries also that take bullion from some places , because they have no occasion for the commodities that they produce , must yet send bullion to other places , to procure what themselves need , and have not other commodities to purchase . 39. some merchants also that trade to the same places , apply themselves only to the importing of commodities purchas'd with their money ; whereas others , on the contrary , trade only by sending of their goods to the market , and making their returns by money . 40. to avoid then the charge , trouble and hazard in carrying money in specie to and again for the supplying all these differing occasions , the method of drawing and remitting money by bills of exchange was found out . 41. for hereby people were mutually serv'd , the one delivering his money to the person who wanted it at home , to receive the value where his occasions required it abroad . 42. but in this also it was difficult for particular persons to find out each others conveniencies . 43. therefore some merchants applied themselves to study the advantages of different exchanges , and made it their trade to furnish all people according to their demands . 44. but whensoever the demands for bills to any place is greater , than that these exchangers can find other remittances to imburse their correspondents , they are then necessitated to transport so much in bullion as will make the ballance . 45. and here again it may be noted , that in this case they are not to have regard to the computations of their own money , but to the value that the foreign nation puts upon the weight . 46. the exchanger also takes such a consideration from the remitter , as may not only pay his charge and hazard , but also redound to his profit . 47. yet this praemio , or advance on the exchanges cannot be great , unless ( as is aforesaid ) upon some extraordinary emergencies . 48. because people would then rather chuse to send their own bullion to answer their particular occasions . chap. v. of the rising and falling of exchanges and bullion . 49. as we have before said , that bullion is capable of a small rising and falling in price . 50. exchanges are also reciprocaly subject to the same alteration ; the one being commonly influenced by the other . 51. and in the commerce of most countries there are times and seasons when the exchanges are subject to rise and fall . 52. at such times when ships usually come to carry off the product of any countrey , the exchanges are wont to rise ; but when that demand ceases , the exchanges generally fall. 53. these are the occasions by which bullion and exchanges do ordinarily come to rise and fall ; but these alterations , as before noted , cannot be great . 54. yet there are some extraordinary emergencies whereby the exchanges , and consequently bullion , may come to advance much more considerably . 55. as when any nation shall become so profuse as to expend more of the product of other commodities , than the value of the commodities they send abroad . 56. or if being engaged in a foreign war , they shall be obliged to maintain an army out of their own countrey , the charge whereof shall come to exceed the whole ballance of their trade . 57. in either of these cases 't is evident , that what the value which that nation sends to foreign countries shall fall short of the expence , must unavoidably be sent out in bullion . 58. and as this will first cause the exchanges to rise extravagantly , so the necessity of purchasing bullion to export for the satisfying the over ballance of their trade , will of consequence cause an advance upon the price of bullion . 59. neither can such a nations raising the computation of their coins , or abasing of their allay , prevent the sending out one peny the less ; because there is no other medium of paying the over ballance : and therefore the exchange will infallibly rise proportionable to the same alteration they shall make in their coins ; because ( as is before observed ) foreigners will only respect the weight of the bullion we bring them , without having any regard to the computations we put upon it . 60. such a nation then must infallibly grow poor , if this expence continue long ; even as a private man will be impoverished , when he spends more than his income ; though a rich man , or nation , may hold it out longer than a poorer . chap. vi. of the abuses of money , and the remedies . 61. there is scarce any nation that hath been free from the practices of ill men to corrupt and abuse the currant coins . 62. and this is done either by counterfeiting the same in baser metals , or by clipping or diminishing the true moneys . 63. either of these are made capital crimes in all governments . 64. to prevent the counterfeiting , the government usually employ the most curious artists to make such stamps as may not easily be imitated . 65. so that for the most part , this abuse is discovered by those that are skilful in the knowledge of money . 66. yet there are some counterfeits so neatly done , that even the most skilful are sometimes deceived by them . 67. to obviate which there is no means so certain as to try the money by weight ; for there is such a difference between the weight of metals as may discriminate the fraud . 68. if any shall attempt to make their counterfeit pieces of the due weight , they will so much differ in breadth or thickness , as may make it discernable by the eye : and people that want that judgment , may as well keep a pair of small calliper compasses as a pair of scales , a trial by both which would infallibly discover all frauds . and then the false pieces might be ordered to be immediately broken , and the offerer questioned how he came by them . 69. and this method would not only destroy all the bad money as fast as it should be discovered ; but also so soon hinder the vent of it in quantity , that it must utterly discourage the undertakers from proceeding in a business of that hazard , when they could make but small earnings of it . 70. the clipping of the coins can never be introduced , but through the neglect of the government . 71. yet this mischief hath proceeded so far in some countries , as to spoil a great part of the currant coin. 72. and though several methods may be attempted to prevent it , yet none can ever prove effectual , but the calling it all in , and causing it to be new coin'd , and the loss made up to the proprietors at the publick charge , prohibiting the passing of any such for the future . a letter to a minister of state , further explaining the foregoing aphorisms , and applying them to the present circumstances of this nation . may it please your honour , observing the remedies that have been proposed for the preventing the carrying out the bullion of this kingdom , and reforming that intolerable abuse of clipping our money , to be different from my apprehensions thereof ; and the difficulty there is to convince people by discourse , that the abasing of our coin , or raising the value of our currant money , would prove no effectual means for the remedying of the former , made me think of digesting my sentiments thereof into writing ; thereby to give such men who look no further than the out side , and search not into the bottom of things , a clearer understanding of what money is in its own nature , and how it is subject to alter in its value , by the various influencies of trade and exchanges : but then i found it would be absolutely necessary to give the general notions of all these , and to shew how they stood in relation each to other . and this i have attempted by way of aphorism , because i have thought that the most concise method of arguing ; and which ( if the writer be not mistaken in his propositions ) cannot fail of leading people to the truth , without a multitude of words , which in discourses of this nature especially , doth more often puzle the cause than give a clear understanding of the matter . such then as i have been able to make them , i take the liberty humbly to offer them to your honours perusal , with a resolution never to trouble the publick with them , unless they may seem so valuable as to pass the test of your honours judgment . ; yet for as much i have been necessitated to confine my self to shortness , and only carry on my argument in general terms , i think it needful to add some few remarks , partly for explanation , and partly to inlarge the discourse with some necessary additions applicable to the present circumstances of our nation , which the brevity of the aphorisms would not admit : with which i shall proceed in order . in the second chapter then i take notice of the different managements of trade between nation and nation , and conclude that the profit of a trading people is not to be reckon'd from their trade with any one countrey , but from the ballance of their trade in general . to illustrate which argument , i will instance in the trade of this nation with france in time of peace , from whence we brought a far greater value of their commodities than they receiv'd of ours ; so that the ballance of that trade was in that respect apparently to our loss : yet when it shall be considered that we sent a greater over ballance of our product to spain , holland , and germany , than we required of their productions ; it will appear , that we had no need of sending out our bullion , but that we could supply our occasions in france , by remitting thither by bills of exchange , the over ballance of trade which we had with those countries . and the advantages we made to our selves by the french trade was , that it employ'd our navigation , and caused the money of such who consumed those french commodities to circulate among merchants , and all tradesmen that had a dependance upon that business , and to contribute considerably to the publick revenues arising by the customs ; neither may we expect to drive a publick trade in the world without some such seeming disadvantages , with more reason , than that a private man should refuse to buy of his neighbour what his necessity requires , and he cannot so conveniently procure from another , because that neighbour hath no occasion to lay out any of his money with him . yet to apply this last instance to our trade with france , 't is but common reason that we should rather chuse to reject theirs , and use our selves to the drinking of the wines of spain and portugal , since they take off much more of our commodities than the french do ; and more especially , since the last prohibition with france hath shewn us , that we might find out wines in those countries , which are better in their own nature , and with use become even as pleasing as those of france . and it might be a thought not unworthy the consideration of our government , whether we may not reasonably lay four times the wonted duty on french wines , when ever that trade shall come to be open ; to continue , until that prince shall recall that extravagant duty which before the war he laid upon our manufactures , amounting to little less than a prohibition . what i hinted in the twenty third aphorism of this chapter , may be well instanced in our trade to the indies , whether we sent considerable quantities of bullion ; for which many people were apt to censure that trade as wholly prejudicial to the nation : yet if it shall appear , that if that business were well managed , we should be able to send so much of the goods brought from thence to our neighbour markets , as would return us more money and moneys worth than what we first sent out for india ; they will then be fully convinc'd that such trades are not to be declin'd : and that we have so done , is well known to those who understand trade . from the consideration of this chapter also , may well be argued the irrationality of any peoples making severe laws to prohibit the transportation of their bullion : for the experience of all the world shews , that wheresoever the advantages of trade require it , people do and will find ways enough for the conveyance of a commodity whose bulk is so small . neither can it be any prejudice to an industrious trading nation , because the more demand there is for its exportation , the higher the price will be , and that never fails to encourage the merchants , whose trade it suits with , to supply the market with more . but if any one will take occasion here to tell me , that people under this liberty , may come to carry out more bullion than they bring in ; i have shewn in the fifth chapter , that any nation that shall continue to do so , must infallibly ruine themselves in time : but then i cannot call that an industrious , but an improvident nation . the third chapter is to convince such of their mistake , who may think that foreigners are governed by the computation or value we put upon our coins ; and that if we raise its worth amongst our selves , they must be oblig'd to esteem it at the same rate , or else cannot afford to carry it from us ; whereas i think nothing is more plain , than that the weight is the only true standard of its value ; and if we should make our crowns to pass for five shillings and six pence , the exchange must advance just ten per cent. more to answer it ; because ( as it is shewn in the fifth chapter ) if we have occasion to send out bullion for the payment of our bills , we must send so much in weight as will make up the value which foreigners expect from us ; and consequently not one ounce the less will be sent out while our occasions require it abroad : and then the effect upon our selves will be , that every man will be really so much the poorer , as he shall become possessour of so much the less weight of bullion for the commodities he parts from : which i take to be a general declination of riches in a nation . the fourth chapter shews the cause and nature of exchanges ; and that though some men have skill to manage that kind of business to a competent advantage , yet there can be no such miracles wrought by it , as an ancient writer hath imagined ; because it is wholly influenced by the ballance of trade between nation and nation ; and when that falls short , it must be supplied by the sending of bullion : for that there must always be a value to answer the draught , or else the credit will be broken : for the drawing and re-drawing without a fund , is only a trick of necessitous men , and if continued will end in loss and ruine . the fifth treats of the rising and falling of exchange and bullion : and what i shall here take notice of on that head , is the extraordinary emergencies which cause a considerable advance thereon ; and this can never happen , but when a nation hath occasion to send out more bullion than it receives in from abroad : and these may be reckon'd the unnatural affects of trade , and are like convulsions in the body , the continuance whereof cannot but be dangerous ; and the way to remedy them , is not to begin with the effect ( as i have before observed , in shewing the deficiency of prohibiting exportation , or advancing the value of the coin , &c ) but to apply such means as may take away the cause . how the case is with us is no mystery , because 't is evident , that the charge of maintaining our army abroad doth exceed the ballance of our trade ; yet the inevitable necessity for that is such , that no man who loves his countrey can grudge the expence , because we are thereby preserved from the devastations , plunderings , sackings , burning , and slaughter , which we must have been subject to , if the seat of war had not been kept out of our own countrey . and indeed nothing could have given so great an evidence of the incredible riches of this nation , as the being able to bear so great a real expence ( for i call not that so which circulates amongst our selves ) so many years , with so few inconveniences as we have hitherto felt : so that we may yet think no worse of our selves , than we would say of a nobleman that might have ten thousand pounds per annum , and one hundred thousand pounds in his purse , if he should be forc'd to spend fourty thousand pounds of it in the defence of his just title to his estate , that he yet remains in a good condition . however the continuation of this expence must in time prove more injurious ; and therefore it cannot be amiss to think of some expedients that might make the lengthening of the war less burdensom to us : to which i should freely offer my mite , but that i fear to go beyond my line ; lest i might justly incur the censure due to such , who being over confident of their own notions , expose themselves , by publishing their thoughts , before they have tried the soundness of them , by conversing with other men of better judgments in those matters than themselves . but as to the business of carrying out our bullion , ( excepting our present occasion of paying our army abroad ) we of all nations of europe have least reason to be apprehensive of it ; because our own native commodities are so valuable in most foreign markets , that they turn to much more profit than the carrying of money would . the last chapter discourses of the abuses of money , and i think needs no explanation till i come to the sixty seventh and sixty eighth aphorism ; and i will only add to that , that i think upon mature consultation , such a scheme might be fram'd from that foundation , that might effectually answer the design . for it is to be considered , that upon the new coining of the money , most payments would be made in the mill'd crowns , and half-crowns , or in the old money of its true weight ; and people would immediately learn to try all their money , both by the scales and the calliper , so that few pieces would escape three hands ; for it would behove all people to be very exact and curious , both to avoid the loss and the suspicion that the offering bad money would subject them to . and though this method at the first may seem troublesom , yet 't is to be considered that in paying sums , there would be no need to try many pieces , so that the trouble would indeed be less than now it is ; besides the loss would be avoided , and a little time would quite put a stop to it . and i will here take occasion to suggest a thought which i have had for the putting a speedy end to the vexation , trouble and loss that people daily endure by the abominable money which they are forc'd to receive ; the currant cash of the nation being in a manner quite spoiled by clipping , or by the introducing a sort of counterfeit money , even worse than that , which daily increases upon us , and will continue so to do as long as any clipt money shall be permitted to pass . i would propose then , that the government should issue a proclamation , declaring , that for the putting a stop to the abuses of the money , the laws should be put in execution against any person that should presume to offer any clipt money after a certain prefixt day . but that for the ease of the people , officers should be appointed in the tower of london , for that city , and parts adjacent ; and a convenient place should be appointed by the magistrates in all the cities and market towns through the rest of the nation , where the like officers should attend to receive in all the good clipt money that should be brought them ; and that they should enter the sum and weight of every mans parcel in a book , and seal the same up in bags , giving them as many certificates as they please in parchment , to the amount of the sum they brought in . these certificates , with an indorsement , should be delivered from man to man in payments : but if any one should doubt the verity thereof , he might go to the officer and examine it . if any man shall refuse these certificates , and demand to be paid the money in specie , the debter should only be obliged to carry him to the officer , and calling for the bag certified , count it over to him before the officer , and so discharge himself ; the officer sealing the bag again , as before . if any persons should not like to have their money kept in such appointed place , they should have liberty to keep it themselves , or lodge it where they please , but not to open the seal but in the presence of the officer : yet it is rather to be supposed that the money would be in less danger of thieves , by being kept in a strong place , secured by the publick , than if it were kept in private houses : neither can the sum be so large , as to encourage a great number to make any attempt upon it ; for there are above eight hundred market-towns in the nation , which having one thousand pounds one with the other , would make eight hundred thousand pounds ; which perhaps may be double as much as will be found , out of london , and three or four of the other cities ; and 't is certain that the most will always be in the largest towns , and therefore most secure . the trouble of this will be less than might at first be imagined ; for all people of business in the countrey generally meet at the market , where the officers should give their attendance : so that this business would be dispatcht with as much ease as people could do it at home , and with no hazard of losing by bad money . neither would there be any injury offered to any man , for he that will keep his money himself may ; he that is content to take the endorsed certificates , cannot be unsecure , because the fund for them is unquestionable , being no less than the very same money , which otherwise he should have received in specie ; and he that desires to receive his money by tale , as before , may continue to do so , only he must submit to the trouble of doing it before an officer , which no honest man can think too much for the preventing such a mischief . also when there may be occasion to carry money from one place to another , the person should have his money told over and seal'd up a new , his old certificate cancell'd , his credit in the book discharg'd , and another certificate given , mentioning to be carried to such a place ; and the officer , appointed for that place , should receive it , enter it in his book , and give him certificates thereof as before : but to prevent abuses , any person , not well known , should be obliged to bring some credible person of the place to vouch for his honesty . some may object , that money will be wanting to supply the running cash ; but the project it self answers them , if they consider , that all the money continues to have the effect of running cash ; for every one may take the certificate as low as he pleases ; and then the circulation of a very little broad money , will serve the occasion of daily expences ; of which there could be no want : for besides , that most people will be able to pick out some broad money out of the parcels they have in their custody ; those people who have been able to keep money by them , have made such sorry money , as they are forc'd to take , serve for their necessary payments , and laid up the best ; which they will not scruple to bring out , when they shall be assured that no more can be clipt . and from this reason it may well be supposed , that the quantity of clipt money will prove much less than is generally thought . yet if the want of changing money , as i may call it , proves somewhat troublesom in some places , people might and would invent ways of helping themselves ; and this might be much better born for a while , than the continuation of so great a loss , which we see daily growing upon us . as for the poor , the overseers may be oblig'd to change what small matter they have out of the parish stock . also if this method were put in practice , an exact account would be taken of all the clipt money in the kingdom against the next sessions of parliament ; which would much facilitate their settling such a certain tax upon the publick , as would make good the loss , and give every man new mill'd weighty money for the clipt money he had brought in ; likewise the present counterfeit money would be destroy'd , because 't is all clipt . neither need the government be put to any charge , for 't is presum'd , that no people who are perplext with the base money , which now they must take , will bethink the giving two pence in the pound to be eased of that trouble and loss ; which 't is probable might defray the whole charge of this management . i will add but one thing more , and that is my observation on the late rise of guineas amongst us , and the ill consequence that attends it . the reason that is pretended for this , is the badness of the silver money ; when as people should consider , that 't is their own fault if they receive the counterfeit money ; and for the clipt , they may be sure to have it exchang'd for good money without loss , when the parliament can settle it ; and then consequently ( if not before ) guineas will fall again : but there will be no reparation for the great loss which such must suffer , who shall have quantities of them remaining on their hands . but some argue , that gold is risen proportionably , and therefore the price of guineas must keep up ; and that this doth not only keep our own guineas at home , but also cause them to be brought over to us from holland and other places whither they were carried . but to answer these , gold is only risen amongst us , because of the rise of guineas : and though this may make gold to advance also something in our neighbour countreys , when they see us so imprudent to take it from them at so high a price ; yet their advance is through our demand , and we shall find in the end that we may buy gold too dear ; which our neighbours of holland have wit enough to know , and therefore they will coin all the gold of their own countrey into guineas for us , if we will give them ( as we lately did ) five ounces of our standard silver for a guinea , which a little time before they would part with for four ounces : but as there is a necessity for sending out bullion for the payment of our army , so if this also continues , we may be sure to have but little silver left in a short time ; and both our silver and the exchange to holland is already advanced , yet more in our disfavour by this occasion . * neither shall we be so rich as those people imagine , by having such high prized gold in the stead on 't ; for those that treasure it , will find their coffers lighter than they would have been at the old rate , by near one third ; and those that should send it to india ( for we send little or none to any other parts ) would find that those people will give them no more of their commodities for it , than it would purchase when it cost them but four pounds per ounce at home ; and whether then it may not be more likely to fall again to the old price , than to keep up , let all prudent men judge . moreover all that now have them , know that they are held up at a strain'd value ; and though they are forc'd to take them in payment , or be without their money , yet every man is willing to be rid of them as soon as he can : so that when once they begin to fall , all people will be for parting with them before they come lower , and so they will come to tumble down faster than at first they rose . and all these inconveniencies are brought upon us by certain tricking men amongst us , that having the command of large cashes , do contrive , by such means , the raising great advantages to themselves by the greater injury of the publick ; and i am sorry to see that people are content so tamely to submit thereto , and do not represent these mischievous practices to the government , in order to stir them up to apply some speedy remedy . but before i have quite done , i will offer one remark more , to shew that notwithstanding what any particular government may do amongst their own people , it will yet be impossible to make a greater advance on the value of silver and gold through europe ; because the great supplies thereof , which have been brought into these parts of the world , since the discovery of those rich mines in america by the spaniards , have made it much more plenty than it was in former ages ; and while these mines continue , we may always expect a greater increase ; by which means its value may come to be less , but can never be more . * and let me add ( though it be a digression ) that the trading nations do get the greatest share of this ; which is the cause why we see that the potentates of those trading nations , are become much more powerful , being able to maintain far greater forces than they could in the last age : whereas on the contrary , we may observe some other great governments , who throught the extravagant expence of their own treasure , and for want of trade , and industry to acquire to themselves a proportion of this general increase of riches , are extreamly declin'd in their strength , though perhaps their territories may not be much less , nor the people they govern fewer than they were formerly . may it please your honour , my thoughts on these things would carry me much farther ; but when i consider that i have already toucht at divers great and weighty matters with too unskilful a hand , i think i have adventured but too far at the first attempt , and therefore shall close my discourse with a good observation made by a late ingenious author ; that so curious a subject as trade is , would not have wanted many excellent discourses , to shew the great advantages it brings to a nation , and the proper methods to seek its improvements ; but that men of learning are but little acquainted with it ; and those that are in the practice of it , do , for the most part , either want ability or leisure from their private affairs to do their countrey that right . and though i have addicted my self to search after the true notions of these matters , beyond many other merchants , who have their heads continually filled with business ; yet i see my self so defective in these respects , that i can rather wish , than ever hope to be master of those accomplishments , that might render me capable of expressing my thoughts with less difficulty to my self , and more clearness to others ; and from this reason it is , that i can never read over what i have written , without mending some faults , or espying others that i have not skill enough to help : and i cannot but expect , that all men , of your honours judgment , must find yet a great many more ; for which i can make no better apology than this , by acknowledging my own imperfections , and begging your honour only to have regard to the notions that i aim at ; neither in those dare i to be too confident of all that i have offered ; but if your honour shall think any of them to be instructive , i humbly pray you thereby to esteem of the good i design'd to the publick , by doing what i was able , and offering nothing but what according to my present understanding seems right : and i promise your honour , that when ever i shall be convinc'd to the contrary , i shall not only be willing to retract my error , but also to make amends by doing better for the future , if ever i shall be capable ; and in the mean time i crave leave to subscribe my self , may it please your honour , your honours most obedient humble servant . an appendix offering some further reasons against raising the value of our coin . the foregoing papers were written last summer , in hopes that they might have been of service , in order to the putting some stop to the daily increasing abuse of our money , and the injury accruing to the nation by the extravagant rise of gold : but finding that the government did not think fit to meddle in so weighty a matter out of parliament , the publication was omitted till the opening of the present session . but since my having finisht the former part of this discourse , mr. lowndes , secretary to the right honourable the lords of the treasury , and a worthy member of the present honourable house of commons , did me the honour to shew me a tract of his upon the same subject ; in which he hath given a very exact deduction of the various alterations that have been made in the coins of this nation , since the first institution of our mints ; shewing the measures that have been taken from time to time for regulating the abuses of the money ; and proposing a method for the rectifying the present defects thereof : the whole discourse being most ingeniously performed , and furnisht with many excellent notions on that subject , worthy the observation of all curious persons . yet , as he proposes that in consideration of the present high price of bullion , our money ought to be made adequate thereto , that thereby encouragement may be given for people to bring in their silver to the mint , and that there may be no temptation hereafter for the melting down or exporting our coin : having already given my opinion so contrary thereto in the foregoing discourse , i cannot yet bring my judgment to agree with him for the raising of our money to 25 per cent. above its former value : although i will confess , that i think the system which he hath fram'd for the effecting the matter in that way , to be the most compleat that can be , if it shall be thought absolutely necessary for us to proceed upon the foundation of raising the value of our money . and although i am not willing to contravert this point with a person , whose abilities i esteem so much beyond my own ; yet forasmuh as i expect this matter will become the serious debate of the parliament ; and that i am very confident that that worthy gentleman will readily acquiesce in whatsoever shall be thought most expedient for the publick good ; i cannot think it will be any offence to him , if i here add some reasons why i continue to dissent from him in that notion . first then , i doubt it will not in the least measure prevent the carrying out of our bullion , or exporting our coin ; because ( as i have already shewn ) if our occasions shall continue to require more money abroad than doth arise from the ballance of our trade , there can be no other way of supplying it , than by sending the overplus in bullion ; and this must be had in the full quantity by weight which shall be wanted : and therefore , if we should advance the value of our money , so as to make our present crown pass amongst our selves for seven shillings six pence or more , the price of our bullion would yet be somewhat higher . for i believe it may be admitted for a certain rule , that whensoever there is such a demand , the price of bullion will always advance something above our coin'd money , because of the penalty and hazard that attends the melting or transporting the latter ; and yet notwithstanding that hazard , we see people are not to be deterr'd from it , when a considerable profit tempts them thereto , by the price of bullion rising much above it ; so that it seems to me altogether as impossible to find out any regulation that can keep our silver , either coin'd or uncoin'd , at home , whensoever our necessities abroad demand a greater value than the produce of all our merchandize exported can furnish ; as to take away the effect , while the cause remains . secondly , i think that an advance of twenty five per cent. upon our money , if it hath any effect at all upon us , must tend very much to the impoverishment of the nation ; to confirm which opinion , two dilemma's will offer themselves , and i know not how they can be avoided . for , if the species of our coin be rais'd to pass for one fourth part more than formerly , either the price of the product of our lands and labour will rise in the same proportion thereto , or else they will be bought for one fourth part less than the due weight of our present coin. now if it may be suppos'd that our product will rise in the same proportion , then this alteration will conduce nothing , either to the multiplying of the currant cash necessary for the circulation of our trade ( because every man will have need of the same quantity of silver and gold in weight as before ) or to the giving any encouragement for the bringing in of silver from abroad , because it would really buy no more of our goods to transport than it did before : so that thus the difference would be nothing more to us than in the computation , and will only appear in the swelling of the figures of our accompts . but if this alteration shall obtain , to cause the product of our lands and labour to be sold for the same computation of pounds , shillings and pence , as now , although the coin will be one quarter part less in weight ; it must consequently have a very fatal influence upon the trade , from whence we draw all our wealth . for to instance in the trade of spain ( because that is as the fountain of silver and gold to all europe ) when the merchant shall come to find that his bullion imported thence , will purchase in england one quarter part of our commodities more than formerly , the encouragement by this extravagant profit will be so great , that not only our own , but foreign merchants also , will presently be at it , and bring all their bullion hither to lay out in our english goods . and this will certainly be a brave trade , and will seem to answer the end of drawing in silver and gold to us for a while : but what will follow ? why , in a few months time , the multitude of seekers after this profitable trade , will have crouded the spanish markets with such gluts of our goods , that they 'll presently find out the blind side , and will infallibly take occasion by the over-plenty of goods at market , to beat down the prices , even lower than the twenty five per cent. which he hop'd he had gain'd by the laying out his money in england ; neither will they ever rife again higher than just to afford such a profit , pro rato , to the money , which us'd to content the merchant , when he formerly kept jogging on in his spanish trade : so here our violent start will last but a little while , and ever after we must not expect , that the product of our nation will afford us , in foreign countries , any more than three quarter parts of the value it yielded before this alteration . but the mischief will not end here ; for foreigners will not be hereby perswaded to part with what we want of their product , for less weight of bullion than they us'd to have before ; so that if we formerly could afford to consume amongst our selves , above three quarter parts of the produce of our foreign exports ( which i doubt we did , and yet were good gainers by our trade too ) we shall then come to spend more than our income ; which i am sure will be the way to impoverish us quickly , unless we alter our course of living , which a nation that hath long been us'd to such plenty , is not apt to be brought to . let us see then how this will operate amongst us at home : the labourer and manufacturer must come to take less weight of silver for their wages , and yet must continue to pay the same weight as formerly , for what foreign commodities they spend ; whereby they will be reduc'd to a necessity of faring harder , and spending less in provisions , which must cause the product , and consequently the rents of our lands to fall in the same proportion . the gentleman then , who lives upon the rents of his lands , must expect they will fall one fourth part in their yearly value , and yet he must give at least twenty five per cent more for all the foreign commodities he spends , which to persons of that rank , may modestly be computed to affect them ten per cent. more ; so that hereby they will be reduc'd above one third part of their subsistance . but what is yet worse , there will be a stop put to the increase of our riches arising from foreign trade , the only source of national wealth ; and that must reduce the strength and power of the kingdom , and make us unable to resist the insults of such of our neighbours , who shall use more prudent methods for the introducing plenty of gold and silver among them : and indeed i cannot determine wherein the happiness of a nation , rich in that kind of wealth consists , above others , which abound in plenty of all things necessary for human life , only in that the former are enabled to sustain the chargeable provisions of war , as it is now manag'd , when as the latter must be enforc'd to submit to the oppressions of others , for want of such means to defend themselves ; there being nothing more plain , than that according to the present constitution of these parts of the world , he that hath the longest purse , will certainly have the longest sword. but here will now arise another dilemma ; for , either this alteration must continue amongst us , or our money will come to revert to its former standard of value . if the alteration continues , and have its effect , i think the fatal consequences shewn in the foregoing argument cannot be avoided : but if the coin shall , after such an alteration , return again to its old adjustment , manifold injuries and inconveniencies must attend it , of which , i will offer a few instances : if a man hath lent two thousand pounds upon personal or land security , the debter shall upon this regulation be able to pay off his debt with such money as will be really worth but one thousand six hundred pounds ; and on the other hand , if a man borrow two thousand pounds of this regulated money , and continue the debt till the money be again reform'd to its former value , it will cost him five hundred pounds more than he at first receiv'd , to pay off this debt of two thousand pounds . all debts due from the crown , will be paid to the lenders in one fourth part less value than the money lent ; so likewise what moneys the crown may borrow under the regulation , must be paid again after the reformation thereof , with the addition of one fourth part value more than borrowed . all tradesmen must on the regulation , receive but three fourth parts real value for all the debts they have trusted out ; but on the reformation , all people that owe money to the tradesmen , must really pay one quarter part more than the value of what they bought . now as 't is not to be thought but that this loss and gain will fall very unequally among the mass of the people , according as the accidents of their affairs may bring them under the influence of it ; let us next consider what profit the crafty money'd men may infallibly raise to themselves , by taking the natural advantages of such alterations of our money . suppose then a banker , worth twenty thousand pounds of his own estate , had a prospect of this rise , it will easily be allow'd , that such an one by drawing in all the money he could into his hands , might certainly command sixty thousand pounds , by which sum he will immediately upon the propos'd advance , gain fifteen thousand pounds profit , and whensoever he shall be apprehensive of a reformation of the money to its old standard , he may pay off his debts in the light money , and lay out his own estate on good securities or purchase of lands , till it will bring him in the same sum in heavy money , and so secure him in the aforesaid profit . in like manner , foreigners may on the prospect of so large a profit ( besides the common interest ) bring money into our nation to let out on valuable securities , while this regulation continues ; but when the same is reform'd , will be paid again in money worth twenty five per cent. more than what he lent ; which will be so much clear loss to the nation , in as much as they carry away from us both principal and profit . i shall only note further , that it will be in this as in the case of guineas , that as some will seem to get , and none to lose by it in the beginning , the people will admit it to be introduc'd without any uneasiness ; but when the money shall come to be reform'd again , the loss will affect them so generally , that it may endanger the raising of mutinies and disturbances among the people . thirdly , with submission to better judgments , i humbly conceive that better and more effectual methods may be provided , for the bringing down the price of bullion , and making it near adequate to the value of our currant coin ; which ( as that worthy gentleman well observes ) will be the proper means to prevent the melting down of the one , and hindring the exportation of th' other . and that would be by bringing our affairs into such a posture , as that our expences abroad may be kept within the compass of the ballance of our trade : for this , and this only , will be able to take away the evil by the cause ; and is of that absolute necessity , that without it 't will be impossible for us to maintain an army abroad much longer , without being drain'd of all the riches in the kingdom . which being a matter of that great consequence , if i should , ( contrary to my intent in the first writing of these papers ) presume to suggest my thoughts of such courses as may be requisite to be put in practice in order to attain that end ; i hope i shall at least deserve pardon , if i may be mistaken in any of them ; since the deep sense i have of the injury daily accrewing to the nation under the present methods , and my not having seen any thing of that kind offer'd by abler hands , is what prevails upon me thus to expose my humble opinion to the scrutiny of stronger judgments . what then occurs to me as fit measures to be taken , in order to bring our expence within the compass of the ballance of our trade , i shall recommend in the following particulars : 1. by sending all provisions necessary for the sustenance of our army abroad , as full and compleat as we provide for our seamen on board our ships ; by which means , and by lessening the subsistence of the officers to what should be but of absolute necessity , reducing also all their unnecessary equipages ( which would be much to their advantage ) 't is probable we might sustain our army for less than one half of the money we now pay abroad . if it should be objected , that all such provisions may be had cheaper there than we can send them from hence ; let it be considered , that if we lost twenty per cent. in the cost ( which is not to be suppos'd ) the nation yet gains eighty per cent. by keeping so much money at home : for whatsoever is sent out of the kingdom , is so much clear loss to it . 2. it might be reasonable , that since the maintaining so great an army abroad is very injurious to us being an island , that our confederates the dutch might be prevail'd with to make some commutation with us , by their taking some regiments off our hands into their pay , and we to take upon us and excuse them from as much or more charge in the sea-service : all which would be so much sav'd to us , whilst the money circulates amongst us at home , and no injury to them ; because by a treaty on this foot , we might afford , even somewhat to lessen theirs , and heighten our own quota of the general charge of the war. 3. by lessening our expence of such foreign commodities which we can well be without ; which may be effected by prohibiting for a time the importation of all sorts of red wines , and all other sorts of fruit and wines , except such as are of the growth of spain or the rhine ; all sorts of fine linens , and all other linens , except some few sorts to be particularly named ; all kinds of silk manufactured abroad ( except what comes from india ) and making it penal to sell or wear such , or any sort of foreign lace * . for all these things , conducing but to luxury , people may very well content themselves for a while without them , when the publick weal of the kingdom is so much at stake , especially since they will not be denied the use of them but by degrees ; for it may be suppos'd that the stock which will be in the nation at the time of such prohibition may last two years ; by which time 't is possible we may be in a better condition to indulge them again . moreover , by this means the product and manufactures of our own countrey will be highly encouraged , and perhaps some of them be brought to that perfection , as that we may never more need foreign of the same kind . if the defect of the revenue arising from the customs should be objected , we shall be hereby enabled the better to supply that and more by other taxes . 4. by reducing the price of gold so , as that people may not make profit , by sending out our silver in exchange for it . 5. by regulating our money , and bringing it to its just standard ; by which means the exchanges between us and our neighbours will be brought to be near equal : because when the money of any countrey is of its true known weight and goodness , it cannot fail to obtain near the same weight of the money of any other countrey alike fine upon exchange , allowance being only to be made for the time , charge , hazard and profit of the exchanger , which is called the praemio , and ( as i have before shewn ) can never be great between neighbour nations ; because people would then decline the charge , and transport their own money , which common sense tells every man , must needs be valued at its own weight in any countrey . however , to prevent exchangers taking advantage by the demands of so great sums , the government may enjoyn that all the money they want abroad , may be sent in coin ( by which we could lose but the coinage , and that too is earn'd by our own people ) whenever they cannot get it return'd by exchange at a certain moderate rate to be set ; and this would infallibly keep a just regulation upon the prices of bullion and exchanges , and consequently bring more silver to the mint , especially if some small encouragement of two or three per cent. were given by the publick , when we find running cash scarce among us . 6. by taking more care in the protection of our trade than hitherto hath been ; for perhaps what we have lost this year by our east and west-india ships , would not have put us less than a million value into foreign parts ; and that would have sav'd us the sending out of the same value in silver ; which if it were duly considered by our government , they might easily be perswaded , that no part of the publick charge could be better employ'd for the service of the nation , than in taking due care of our merchants ships . by what i have said then , i hope it will be evident to all men that are solicitous for the good of their countrey , that unless these or such like methods are taken , whereby we may be made able to support our foreign expence , without being oblig'd to send out more silver yearly than we receive in from the product of our trade with other countreys , the scarcity of bullion amongst us will become so great , that we shall soon be put under an incapacity of maintaining the war. and , i believe , i may further presume to say , that the nation might be able longer , and with more ease , to bear seven millions per annum in taxes , which should only be expended , and have their circulation amongst our selves , than to pay but one million per annum , to be exported in silver while the ballance of our trade could bring us in none . but could we once effect this great thing , of making the product of our foreign trade support our foreign expence , the war would not make the nation poor though it should last these seven years : and i hope this short essay hath given a specimen , how it may be possible for us to do so , if we have virtue enough to retrench our luxury , and manage our affairs with prudence and integrity . and now , though i have done with this argument , i cannot yet finish , 'till i have added a further thought touching the reformation of the money , in which i heartily agree with that worthy gentleman , earnestly to recommend it as a matter of necessity , to be done with as much speed as possible ; neither do i think , there can be a better method than what he hath proposed , by erecting mints and officers to receive in , and new-coin the money in divers parts of the kingdom : yet i will beg leave to offer as my humble opinion , that we need not at present be over solicitous for the coining more silver than shall be voluntarily brought in ; nor for the delivering to the proprietors more new-coin'd money than the weight of the silver they bring ; and for the remainder , to give them tickets payable with interest , upon a certain fond to be settled for that purpose , till the nation may better spare money to discharge the principal ; which would certainly be more currant than money it self , by the constant growing of the interest . but i know the doubt is , that we shall not then have money enough to circulate in trade : in answer to which , i would observe , that money may be considered to have a threefold use , viz. for treasure , or hoarding up ; for supplying the use of trade in gross sums ; and for going to market , or small expences . the possessors of the first sort can never want money , and so they may be out of our care. the second is what requires the greatest regard : and yet , even now , when silver money is the most scarce that ever was known in our time , people do by means of the plenty of gold , and the help of goldsmiths and bank-notes , for ought i can perceive , make their payments well enough : from whence i am inclin'd to think , that when , besides the present banks , the land banks also ( which are now in a fair way of being established ) come to be opened , they will supply the place of running cash as largely , as ever it was in the plentiest of times ; for i cannot but think , that lands securely settled will be esteem'd so certain and valuable a fond for a bank , that it must obtain as solid a credit , as if the whole value were coin'd into money ; and that it will become no less serviceable in trade . and when i further consider , that our clipt money of the true coin , was plenty enough before the rise of guineas , and the introduction of the counterfeit money that is now so common , but soon after did for the most part vanish away ; i am ready to conclude , that upon the apprehension of its being called in , and the loss made up by the government , people chose to lay it by , and make the guineas and false money serve for their running cash , as what they were willing to be rid of , as soon as they could , for fear of a loss at last ; but in as much as the clipt money is not worth the melting down , i expect it will be brought out again in greater plenty than people may imagine from the present appearance of it , when it shall be called in to be chang'd ; neither is it to be doubted , but that considerable quantities of the old unclipt money will appear again , when our coin shall be regulated : so that i am of the judgment , that by all these means , the circulation of the larger payments will become much easier than now : and then for the lesser expences , so small a quantity will supply that occasion , that it cannot be wanting . finis . postscript . upon further discourse with the forementioned worthy gentleman , he offer'd me a very weighty objection against the new-coining of our money to the old weight : for that the nation is at this time very largely indebted to foreigners , as well for the great quantities of gold they have of late brought us , as otherwise ; which because of the high price of bullion , and the exchange , they have not yet been able to withdraw ; but will certainly carry it away in the new moneys , as soon as the same shall be made of its old weight . to which i can give no better answer , than that i am sorry that we have been so negligent in not preventing the cause ; for i doubt the consequence is too natural to be easily avoided : and therefore i must refer it to abler heads than my own , to consider , whether we were not even better to submit to bear that loss , than to draw upon our selves the fatal inconveniencies i have before mentioned . yet i will add a sudden thought , whether we might not upon this occasion lay a temporary duty of sixpence per ounce upon all bullion to be transported ; admitting none to be entred out , but such of which due proof was made of its importation ; and not only confiscating all that should be found shipt without entry , but adding very severe penalties upon all that shonld be concern'd therein : and a little diligence in the execution of this , might quickly operate so far upon those wary people , who are the common traders that way , as that they might rather chuse to pay a duty of ten per cent. than run so great a hazard without it . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a33408-e1090 * i am not ignorant that it 's common among merchants to call the exchange to holland falling , when the dutch give fewer schillings for our pound , and this indeed may well be reckon'd falling in their favour ; but with respect to us , if we could formerly purchase thirty five schillings for our twenty shillings , whereas we must now pay twenty five shillings for the like number of dutch schillings , i am sure we may more properly say 't is risen twenty five per cent. to us . * since writing the above , i am inform'd by very worthy and knowing persons , that within late years , very rich mines of gold have been open'd in the east-indies ; so that we should not only have no need hereafter to send gold thither , but that gold might be brought from thence purchas'd with silver , to yield in europe sixty to eighty per cent. profit ; from whence we may certainly expect , that the value of gold must , in some short time , become of less worth in proportion to silver than it hath been formerly . notes for div a33408-e1960 * i know this may be thought hard to some people , whose trades chiefly depend upon such commodities : but i think we ought to have more regard to the publick good of our countrey , than to any such , who will not be content for its sake to divert their trades , and shift as well as they can for a year or two . a short treatise touching sheriffs accompts written by the honourable sir matthew hale ... ; to which is added, a tryal of witches, at the assizes held at bury st. edmonds, for the county of suffolk, on the 10th of march 1664, before the said sir matthew hale, kt. hale, matthew, sir, 1609-1676. 1683 approx. 113 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44301 wing h260 estc r14358 12157764 ocm 12157764 55185 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44301) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55185) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 599:11) a short treatise touching sheriffs accompts written by the honourable sir matthew hale ... ; to which is added, a tryal of witches, at the assizes held at bury st. edmonds, for the county of suffolk, on the 10th of march 1664, before the said sir matthew hale, kt. hale, matthew, sir, 1609-1676. 2 pts. ( [8], 110; [4], 59 p.) printed, and are to be sold by will. shrowsbery ..., london : 1683. imperfect: a tryal of witches, at the assizes held at bury st. edmonds ... london : printed for william shrewsbery, 1682 (with special t.p.): [4], 59 p. at end is lacking in filmed copy. reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy 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remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sheriffs -england. finance, public -england -accounting. money -england. 2006-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-03 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a short treatise touching sheriffs accompts . written by the honourable sir matthem hale , kt. sometime lord chief justice of his majesty's court of king's-bench . to which is added , a tryal of witches , at the assizes held at bury st. edmonds , for the county of suffolk , on the 10th of march 1664 , before the said sir matthew hale , kt. london , printed , and are to be sold by will. shrowsbery , at the bible in duck-lane . 1683. for the right honourable the lord high treasurer of england , and the chancellor of the exchequer . according to my promise to your lordships , i have given a large historical narrative of the sheriffs accompts for the annual revenue of their countries : wherein some things may occurr that may be usefull to the understanding of the sheriffs accompts , and many other old obscure records , and some things incidently opened that have been formerly obscure and scarce intelligible , yet fit to be known . some things also relating to the diff●rence between the auditors of the revenue , and the officers of the pipe. there may be some mistakes of my own , i confess , in a matter of so great intricacy , perplexity and obsoleteness , which i could not easily correct , in the country , because many of my papers are at london that concern this business , and , i fear , hardly to be retrieved into a due order , in regard of the late distraction . and here may be some mistakes in the transcriber , which at this distance i could not examine . but , possibly , notwithstanding these mistakes , your lordships may find something that may be usefull , and when i wait upon you i shall review and correct . your lordships humble servant . the contents . chap. i. touching the ancient and modern weight and allay of sterling silver . page 1. chap. ii. concerning the weight of coin , and the difference therein , with regard to the denomination of coin. p. 14. chap. iii. touching the corruptions of money and the remedies anciently used in relation thereunto . p. 19. chap. iv. concerning the manner of answering the king's firmes anciently . p. 30. chap. v. concerning the manner of collecting the king's revenues of the county , and the several kinds of them , with their several titles . p. 33. chap. vi. concerning the manner how the annual revenue of the co●nty was usually answered in the ancient times until 10 e. 1. p. 48. chap. vii . the second period of the sheriffs accompts , viz. how they stood from 10 e. 1. until 34 h. 8. p. 63. chap. viii . touching the state of the sheriffs firmes from the statute of 34 h. 8. till the 14th year of the reign of king charles 1. which is the second period . p. 77. chap. ix . the third period from the 15th year of king charles 1. untill the year of our lord 1650 , and how the sheriffs firmes and accompts stood in that intervall . p. 87. chap. x. the fourth period of the sheriffs firmes from the year 1650 unto this day and how they were answered in that intervall . p. 89. a short treatise touching sheriffs accompts . chap. i. touching the ancient and modern weight and allay of sterling silver . it will be necessary for the better understanding of sheriffs accompts , especially in the elder times , to examine these matters , viz. i. touching the denomination ▪ weight and allay of sterling money , the corruptions thereof in both , and the remedies that have been formerly applied for the reformation of these corruptions . ii. concerning firmes ▪ their nature , and how they were answered in former times . the first shall be the subject of this chapter , the second the subject of the next . concerning the former of 〈◊〉 i shall apply my self singly to the business of silver coin , because that was the usual species wherein the king 's firmes were commonly answered . and first , concerning the coin of silver , there are these things considerable therein . 1. the authority or power that gives it its stamp , weight , denomination and value . 2. the matter of it . 3. the weight and denomination . as concerning the first of these , it is , without all question , the inherent regality and prerogative of the crown , to give the currantness , allay , weight , denomination and extrinsique value to the coin of this kingdom : and as it is a part of his regality and prerogative , so it is a part of his regal revenue , which is called the king's seigniorage , or royalty , or coinage , viz. ordinarily , on every pound weight of gold , the king had for his coin 5 s. out of which he paid to the master of the mint , for his work , sometimes 1● . sometimes 1 s. 6 d. upon every pound weight of silver , the seigniorage , or coinage , answered to the king , in the time of king edw. 3. was 8 peny weight , pondere , which about that time amounted to 1 s. out of which he paid sometimes 8 d. sometimes 9 d. to the master . in the time of h. 5. the king's seigniorage of every pound weight of silver was 15 d. see rot. parl. 9 h. 5. pars 2. n. 15. although the authorization , denomination and stamp of coin was undoubtedly the king 's right , yet it appears by roger hawood , that in the troublesome times of king stephen , viz. an. dom. 1149. omnes potentes , tam episcopi quam comites & barones , suam faciebant monetam . but henry the second coming to the crown , remedied this usurpation of the baronage : novam fecit monetam qu●e sola recepta erat & accepta in regno . and since that time , the exercise as well as the right of coining of money in the kingdom hath remained uninterruptedly in the crown . it is true , that by certain ancient privileges , derived by charter and usage from the crown , divers , especially of the eminent clergy , had their mints or coinages of money . as the abbot of st. edmunds ▪ bury , claus . 32 h. 8. m. 15. dorso : and the archbishop of york claus . 5 e. 3. pars 1. m. 10. 19. dorso , and some others . but although they had the profit of the coin , yet they had neither the denomination , stamp , nor allay : for upon every change of the coin by the king's proclamation , there issued over a mandate to the treasurer and barons to deliver a stamp over to those private mints to be used . but this liberty of coinage in private lords hath been long since disused , and in a great measure , if not altogether , reassumed by the statute of 3 h. 7. cap. 6. 2. concerning the second , viz. the matter or species ▪ whereof the currant coin of this kingdom hath been made , it is gold or silver , but not altogether pure , but with an allay of copper , at least from the time of king h ▪ 1. and h. 2. though possibly in ancienter times the species whereof the coin was made might be pure gold or silver ; and this allay was that which gave the denomination of sterling to that coin , viz. sterling gold , or sterling silver : wherein there will be inquirable , 1. whence that denomination came . 2. how ancient that denomination was . 3. what was the allay that gave silver that denomination . for the former of these there are various conjectures , and nothing of certainty . spelman supposeth it to take that denomination from the esterlings , who , as he supposeth , came over and reformed our coin to that allay . of this opinion was cambden , a germanis , quos angli esterlings , ab orientali situ , vocarunt , facta est appellatio ; quos johannes rex , ad argentum in suam puritatem redigendam , primus evocavit : & ejusmodi ●●mmi esterlingi , in antiquis scripturis semper reperiuntur . some suppose that it might be taken up from the starre jud●eorum , who being the great brokers for money , accepted and allowed money of that allay , for currant payment of their stars or obligations . others from the impression of a sterling , or of an asterisck upon the coin. ▪ pur ceo que le form d'un stare , dont le diminutive est sterling , fuit impresst o● stamp sur ceo . auters pur ceo que le ▪ primer de cest standard ●uit coyn en le castle de sterlin in scotland pur le roy edw. 1. and possibly as the proper name of the fourth part of a peny was called a farthing , and ordinarily a ferling ; so in truth the proper name of a peny in th●se times was called a sterling , without any other reason of it than the use of the times and arbitrary imposition , as other names usually grow . for the old act of 51 h : 3. called compositio mensurarum , tells us that denarius a●gliae sterlingus dicitur . and because this was the root of the measure , especially of silver coin , as will be shewed , therefore all our coin of the same allay was also called sterling , as five shillings sterling , five pounds sterling . 2. when this name of sterling came first in is uncertain , onely we are certain it was a denomination in use in the time of h. 3. or ed. 1. and after-ages . but it was not in use at the time of the compiling of doomsday , for if it were we should have found it there ▪ where there is so great occasion of mention of firmes , rents and payments . standard del mony en french est appel pied de mony per bodin , pes monetarum , qua●i princeps ibi pedem figit . matth. paris mag . hist . 220. b. in le 12 an . de roy john le primier standard del english ▪ mony fuit establish en realm d' ireland , et fuit equal al primes , & que l'english mony ne fuit au quart part melior in value que l'irish , come ceo ad estre depuis le temps del edw. 4. et fuit change in ireland come ceo fuit change in engleterre . le primer difference & inequality inter les standards del english monies , & irish monies est troue in 5 ed. 4. car donque fuit declare in parliament icy que le noble serra currant en cest realm pur 10s . & issint fuit que l'irish shilling forsque 9d . dengletre . hovenden in rich 1. fol. 377. b. videns igitur galfridus eboracensis electus , quod nisi mediante pecunia amorem regis ●ui nullatenus habere possit , promifit ei tria millia librarum sterlingorum pro amore ejus habendo . que fuit devant le temps del roy john ; pur que semble que le temps quant cest money fuit primerment coin est uncertain . car ascuns diont que fuit fait per osbright un roy de saxon race 160 ans de●ant le norman conquest . nummus a numa que fuit le primer roy ▪ que fesoit moneies en rome . issint sterlings , alias esterlings , queux primes fesoient le money de cest standard en engleterre . 3. as touching the allay that is by use and custom fitted to that money which we call the sterling , or sterling allay ; perchance we shall not find that constancy in the allay as is generally thought . the sterling allay of gold , according to the red book of the exchequer is this . the pound weight of gold consists of twenty four charats , every charat weighing half an ounce of silver ; and every charat of gold consists of four grains , and consequently every grain of gold weighing thirty of these grains which we call silver grains , whereof hereafter . in the time of edw. 3. the pound of sterling gold consisted of twenty three charats , three grains and a half of pure gold , and half a grain of allay of copper . the sterling silver , as it seems to me , in former times had an allay differing from what it is at this day . at this day a pound weight of silver ( viz. 12 ounces to the pound , or troy weight ) consists of eleven ounces two peny-weight of fine . silver , and eighteen peny-weight of allay or copper : every pound containing twelve ounces , and every ounce divided into 20 parts called twenty peny-weight : for at that time 20 peny-weight weighed one ounce , which though the peny-weight be altered , yet the denomination continues . and this allay was in use in the forty sixth year of king edw. 3. and for some time before , and hath continued ever since . in the treatise of money in the red book of the exchequer which seems to be written in the time of edw. 3. for it mentions the indentures of the mint in 23 ed. 3. it is said the use was then that in every pound weight of sterling silver there was sixteen peny-weight of allay : the consequence whereof is that the pound of sterling silver then contained eleven ounces four peny-weight of fine silver , and sixteen peny-weight of copper . and it should seem by what follows in the chapter , that in the time of h. 2. the allay of copper in sterling silver was less than that : for upon every pound weight of silver money they used to allow 12 peny-weight ad dealbandam firmam ; which seems to be the remedy for the reduction of the money then currant into fine silver , sed de hoc postea . but at this day , and for very many reasons , the allay of sterling silver hath been 18 peny-weight of copper allowed to 11 ounces 2 peny-weight of fine silver ; thereby making up the pound weight troy of sterling . vid. indentures of the mint , claus . 46 ed. 3. m. 18. dors . claus . 1. h. 5. m. 35. dors . claus . 4. ed. 4 ▪ m. 20. and this i take at this day to continue the standard of sterling silver . 29 e. 1. per special ordinance del roy les pollards & crockards fueront decrie & adnul , quel ordinance fuit transmit in realm d' ireland & enrol en exchequer icy , come est troue in libro rubra scaccarii , ibid. pars 2. fol. 2. b. en temps e. 1. denarius a●gli●e , qui nominatur sterlingus , rotundus fine tonsura , ponderabit triginta & duo grana in medio spic●e . sterlingus & de●arius sont tout un . le shilling con●istoit de 12 sterlings . 25 e. 3. cap. 6. le substance de cest denier ou sterling peny al primes fuit vicefima pars un●i●e . et issint continue tanq . 9 e. 3. quant l'ounce del silver fuit tallie in 26 pence que proportion fuit continue tanq . 2 h. 6. quant l'ounce del silver fesoit 32 pence ▪ et cest iusque al 5 e. 4. quant fesoit 40 pence . et cest iusques 36 h. 8. quant il prepare son journy al bulloigne & donque fuit divide en 45 pence . que continue iusques al 2 el. quant l'ounce de pure silver fuit tallie en 60 pence , & cest standard remain a cest jour . et qu●elibet libra de sterling avoit 18d . ob . d'allay de copper , & nient plus . et cest allay de sterling mony les ordinances ou statutes de 25 e. 3. cap. 13. & 2 h. 6. cap. 13. font mention , & est contein en touts indentures fait enter le roy & les maisters del mint . chap. ii. concerning the weight of coin , and the difference therein , with regard to the denomination of coin. the pound weight of gold though it were the same with that of silver , yet is made up of smaller parts of a different denomination , every pound weight consisting of 24 charats , and every charat consisting of 4 grains . the pound weight of silver is subdivided into parts of another denomination ; for every pound consists of 20 peny-weights , and every peny-weight of 24 grains . this appears by the books and records above mentioned . et touts susdits moneys dargent issint faites serront dallay de standard de veil esterling : cost ascavoir que chescun leivre dargent de cestes moneys de poize tiendra vnze ounces & 2d . de poize dargent fine , & 18d . de poys dallay , chescun peny weight containant 24 grains . so that every charat in the pound weight of gold equals half an ounce of silver ; and every grain of gold , the fourth part of a charat , equals 60 grains of silver weight . in that old ordinance , before mentioned called compositio mensurarum 51 h. 3. it is said , per ordinationes totius regni angliae ●it una mensura domini regis composita , viz. quod denarius angliae , qui nominatur sterlingus , rotundus fine tonsura ponderabit triginta & duo grana frumenti in medio spic●e ; & viginti denarii faciunt vnciam ; & duodecim vnci●e faciunt libram , &c. but these thirty two grains in the middle of the ear of corn , are the natural grains , which were the weight of the then english sterling peny . but for the better accommodation of accompts , these 32 natural grains are reduced to 24 artificial grains , which , from very ancient time unt● this day are the common measure of the peny-weight , as the 20 peny-weight is the measure of an ounce . having thus stated the artificial weights of gold , and silver , especially the latter , i shall proceed to the comparison that now and anciciently stands between these artificial weights and the coin of silver . it is very plain that in the latter end of h. 3. and the beginning of king ed. 1. and for a long time before , twenty pence of sterling money did weigh an ounce , and twelve times twenty pence or twenty shillings did then weigh a pound troy weight : and accordingly as twenty peny-weight was then an ounce , and so called , so two hundred forty pence , or twenty shillings was a pound weight , and so called , viz. libra argenti . and although at this day the peny and the 20 shillings of silver is much altered in their true weight , yet the denomination is still retained . the ounce is commonly divided and estimated by 20 peny-weight , and 20 shillings is called libra argenti . in the time of king edw. 1. ( as appears ) an ounce of sterling silver made 20 sterling pence , and consequently a pound of sterling silver made 240 pence sterling . but process of time hath made a great alteration between the weight and extrinsique denomination or value of money . in 46 e. 3. it appears by the indenture of the mint that a pound of sterling silver made then 300 sterling pence . claus . 46. e. 3. m. 18. and afterwards in 1 h. 5. the reduction of coin was such that a pound weight of sterling silver made 360 pence sterling . claus . 1. h. 5. m. 35. dorso . which made the pound weight of silver to contain 30 shillings , and deducting 1 shilling for coinage , the merchant had 29 shillings for his pound of silver brought into the mint . in the 4th year of ed. 4. the pound of sterling silver yielded 33 shillings viz. about 396 pence in the pound : and consequently 33 sterling pence then made the ounce of silver . claus . 4. e. 4. m. 20. at this day the ounce of silver coined contains 5 shillings , or 60 pence : and consequently the pound weight of coined silver yields 60 sterlings or 720 pence . so that at this day the extrinsecal denomination or value of money in proportion to its weight , is three times higher than it was in the time of e. 1. and thus much shall suffice touching the second enquiry . chap. iii. touching the corruptions of money , and the remedies anciently used in relation thereunto . by what hath been before said it appeareth , the two special requisites of the currant coin of this kingdom are , i. that it be of the true standard in relation to its weight . ii. of the true standard with relation to its allay : and proportionably to these two requisites are these defects , which have hapned in moneys in modern and ancient times , viz. i. the defect in the due weight of money which hapned sometimes by counterfeiting the sterling money , though with a weight below the standard . sometimes by clipping , or otherwise impairing the weight of true money . 2. the defect in the due allay : viz. overcharging the fine silver or gold with an allay of copper more than the standard , which hapned sometimes by the deceit or ignorance of the officers of the mint , and sometimes by the counterfeiture of the coin of england . and by these practices the king's exchequer ( into or through which the most of the money of the kingdom successively came ) was many times surcharged with such defective money , and the king thereby deceived in his firmes . and therefore in ancient times there were successive experiments made by the officers of the king's revenue for the discovery and avoiding of these defective monies and that his rents might be answered in money of a just weight and allay ; which , for the better understanding of ancient records , remain here to be explicated , viz. solutio ad scalam , solutio ad pensum , and combustion , or tryal by fire . the two former being such remedies as related to defective weight , and the latter being the remedy that relates to defect in the standard of allay . and , touching this business , although we have very frequent mention of them , in the pipe-rolls especially , yet the best , and contemporary exposition of them is gervasius tilburiensis , or the black book of the exchequer , written in the time of h ▪ 2. who gives us the accompt thereof in his first book , cap. a quibus , & ad quid inventa fuit argenti examinatio , who thus expounds it . 1. solutio ad scalam , viz. proeter quamlibet libram numeratam sex denarios , which it seems was agreed upon a medium to be the common estimate or remedy for the defective weight of money , thereby to avoid the trouble of weighing the money which was brought into the exchequer . and this is the meaning of that frequent expression in the ancient pipe-rolls in thesauro 100 l. ad scalam , which seems to be one hundred pounds , and one hundred sixpences , or fifty shillings . 2. solutio ad pensum : which was the payment of money into the exchequer by full weight , viz. that a pound , or 20 s. in silver , numero , or by tale , should not be received for a pound unless it did exactly weigh a pound weight troy , or twelve ounces , and if it wanted any , that then the payer should make good the weight by adding other money although it amounted to more or less than 6 d. in the pound ( which was the solutio ad scalam , as before is mentioned . ) and thus frequently occurs in the pipe-rolls , in thesauro 100 l. and pensum , or full weight . 3. combustion or tryal by fire : which is by gervase supposed to be set on foot by the bishop of salisbury , then treasurer , ( though in truth it were much more ancient , as appears by frequent passages in the book of doomsday : ) and the author gives the reason : licet enim numero & pondere videretur esse satisfactum , non tamen materia . consequens enim non erat ut si pro libra una numerata 20 solidos , etiam libra ponderis respondentis consequenter libram solvisset : argentum enim cupro vel quovis aere solvisset . and thereupon ensued the constitution of examination of money at the exchequer by combustion . whether this examination was to reduce an equation of money onely to sterling , viz. a due proportion of allay with copper ; or to reduce it to fine and pure silver , and to make the estimate of the pound or libra argenti , reserved of their firmes to be in pure silver , and without allay , doth not so clearly appear . some think the former ; and therefore that the old expression of firma alba , blank firm , and dealbare firmam , was nothing else but coin melted down and reduced to the allay of sterling , and after blanched , or whited , as is done by the moneyers with their sterling coin of silver , which is to this day called blanching . vid. spelman i● tit . firmam dealbare . but yet it may seem , by what ensues , that it was to reduce it to fine silver , and to the estimate of the pound , or libra argenti accordingly ; for it is evident by what follows , that the difference between a pound , or libra argenti numero , and libra argenti blanch , was 12 pence in every pound : which possibly might be that the allowed allay of copper in the sterling silver was then twelve pence weight of copper in the pound of fine silver , whereas it is now 18 peny-weight in the pound . this tryal of silver by combustion , in those elder ages soon prevailed and obtained against the former reductions ad scalam , & ad pensum , as being the onely infallible tryal of the truth of the metal , whereby the former reductions of pensum and scalam became in time antiquated . and this begat the distinction in the old rolls of the estimate of money numero , and the estimate blanc : and in pursuance thereto the reservations of rents and firmes by the king were sometimes numero , and sometimes blanc . the reservations of rents numero were no other but so much money reserved in pecuniis numeratis : as reddendo quinque libras numero was fivescore shillings , which amounted in common estimation to five pounds troy weight : and this was the ancient and usual reservation , and , prima facie , unless the contrary were expressed , upon all grants of lands ( reserving so much rent ) it was intended numero ; that is , so much in money numbred , and the firmor was not bound dealbare firmam , or to make good so much in fine silver , or , if you will , in such silver as was of the first allay . the reservation of so much money , or so many pounds blanc did enforce the firmor to make good to the king so much in fine silver , ( or at least in the purest sterling ) and therefore such firmor , when he paid in his firme upon such a reservation blanc , was bound dealbare firmam , which was to submit his money to the test of the fire ; and to answer his money , and make it good in fine silver according to the reservation , or to pay in allowance thereof that rate which was the ordinary measure of reduction of it to fine silver , which was 12 d. for every pound as shall be shewed . and hereupon grew the common difference which is every-where mentioned in the pipe-rolls of firmes numero , and firmes blanc or alb . firme . this difference of these firmes is expounded by the black book of the exchequer , lib. 2. cap. quid sit quosdam fundos dari blanc , quosdam numero , viz. that if a firme or tenement were let by the king generally , without expressing blanc or numero , it was to be answered onely numero , unless specially reserved blanc , ( viz. 5 s. blanc . ) but if a royalty or franchise were onely granted , then the general reservation of so much rent , was to be blanc rent . porro , firmam numero dari diximus cum tantum numerando , non examinando ipso satisfit . cum ergo rex firmam alicui contulerit , simul cum hundredo vel placito quoe ex hoc proveniunt , firma dealbari dicitur : sin simpliciter fundum dederit ( non determinans cum hundredo vel blanc . ) numero datus dicitur . and from this diversity of the rents arising in any county ( some blanc onely , some numero onely , some in both ) arose the diversity in the titling of the sheriffs accompts , viz. firma de remanente comitatus post terras datas blanc : which was applicable to those rents of his county , which were answered in fine silver reduced to the test by combustion , or with an allowance of 12 d. in the pound in compensation of it . firma comitatus numero , was his firme for those rents of his county which were onely answered in money numbred , without reducing them to their fineness by combustion , or any satisfaction for it : but of this more fully in the ensuing chapter . i have before mentioned that when any firme was reserved or answered blanc , the money was to be melted and answered in fine silver , or at least to silver allayed to right and finest sterling ; or else he was to redeem himself from that trouble by payment of 12 d. in the pound : so that that person upon whom there was reserved 5 l. blanc was to pay 5 l. 5 s. if he would not have his money melted down and made good in fine silver ( or at least in true sterling . ) and this appears to be true by infinite records : take two or three for instance . in compoto cum northampton , 21 h. 3. summa totalis 102l . 3s . 7d . de qua 4l . 9s . 4d . blanc , quoe sunt extensoe ad 4l . 13s . 9d . subtrahuntur ad perficiendum corpus comitatus & remanet 97l . 13s . 10d . de quibus respondet de proficuo in magno rotulo . claus . 13. h. 3. m. 2. sciatis quod perdonavimus dilectoe sorori nostroe a. comitissoe pembroc centum triginta & quinque libras blanc , quoe extensoe sunt ad ▪ centum quadraginta & unum libras , & quindecim solidos . in compoto bedf. & bucks , 13 e. 3 nic. passelew de 18 l. 4 s. 4 d. numero pro 17 l. 7 s. blanc . in all these the proportion riseth very near , bating the small fragments in pence , that every pound blanc answered one shilling over , to reduce it to its value . and hence it is that at this day the ancient firmors of cities , as london , &c. which were commonly reserved blanc , do pay the same in sterling money , and one shilling for every pound over : as if 100 l. blanc be reserved , there is answered at this day in the receipt 105 l. which , as before , makes me suppose that blanc firme , or dealbata firma , was in truth when it was reduced to fine silver , and not barely sterling : for this advance of 12 d. in the pound upon such blanc firmes is still answered though paid in sterling . chap. iv. concerning the manner of answering the king's firmes anciently . in ancient times , viz. about the time of william the first and henry the second , the reservation of the king 's firmes and rents were so many pounds or shillings , &c. in money , and they were answered numero , or in pecuniis numeratis , untill afterward for the avoiding of corrupt money , they were reserved in blanc or white money , which , as before is observed , was intended either of pure silver , ( or at least silver reduced to the allay of sterling ) and then whitened or blanched , as is used in the mint to this day , for all sterling money : i shall not much contend whether it were the one or the other , but for the most part in this discourse i shall suppose it fine silver . but although firmes were reserved in money , as the best and commonest measures of values , yet it appears by tilburiensis , lib. 1. cap. a quibus & ad quid instituta fuit argenti examinatio ; that it was in those ancient times of king w. 2. and h. 1 . usually practised that those firmes should , according to their values be answered in cattle , corn and other provisions ; which perchance in its first institution might be a convenience to the king , to have his family furnished with provisions in specie , and to the country , among whom money was not then very plentifull , and they could better answer their rents in provisions . and to the end that an equation might be made between the rents reserved in money and the provision delivered by the tenants in lieu thereof , the same tilburiensis tells us , there were certain prices and rates set upon provisions , that the tenant might know what to pay , and the king's officers might know what to receive . as for wheat for 100 men 12 d. for a fat ox 12 d. &c. which it seems were dilivered to the hands of the sheriff who , if he firmed the county , might retain it to his own use ; but if he firmed it not he accompted to the king , for these provisions or their values , as he did for other rates of the county collected by him . but as for cities and franchises that were granted out to firme , because they had not provisions of this nature to answer , they paid their rents in money . thus , it seems , the king 's firmes of rents of his firmors and tenants in the country were answered in the time of king william the first and william his son . but in the time of h. 1. the tenants were weary of answering their rents in provisions , and the king 's foreign occasions called rather for a supply of money , and so the rents were answered by the tenants as formerly in money according to the tenour of their reservations , and the delivery of victual and other provisions in lieu thereof ceased . chap. v. concerning the manner of collecting the king's revenues of the county , and the several kinds of them with their several titles . the sheriff of the county had a double office : 1. as a minister of justice under the king for the preservation of peace , and writs issuing from the king's courts ▪ 2. as the king's bayliff of his revenues arising in the county , which was of two kinds . 1. the improving and letting , and sometimes stocking of the king's demesnes , and such lands as were seized into the king's hands ( other than such as belonged to the escheator , as wardships and escheats . ) and hence it is that there are upon the accompts , especially of buckingham and bedford , allowances made to the sheriff of that county ut ..... comitatus . 2. the second part of his office was in collecting of the king's rents of his county , which sometimes he did as custos or bayly ; sometimes ut firmarius , viz. he took the rents to his own use , and answered the king a certain firme or rent at his own peril , whereof more in the ensuing discourse . now concerning the kinds of the king's revenues arising in the several counties , we are to take notice that they were of two kinds , viz. annual or casual . the annual revenue was again of two kinds , viz. fixed and certain , or casual and uncertain . the annual , fixed and certain revenue of the counties were of these kinds . 1. the king's demesnes that were in his own hands , or let at rack rents to tenants , whereof i have before spoken , and they make not much for that purpose i aim at . 2. firmes , which were of two kinds , viz. gross firmes which were charged upon particular persons , or cities , or towns , and so charged in the great roll ; as thus , philippus d'aura debet 2 marc. de reditu unius virgate terre . and these were thus charged upon these two reasons : 1. either because they were never parcel of the sheriffs firme of this county , ( de quo infra , ) but great firmes written out to the sheriff to be answered by the persons upon whom they were charged . 2. or else they were such as happened to be reserved after the firme of the county was reduced to certainty and answered by the sheriffs . or else , secondly , they were small rents commonly called vicontiel rents ; the particulars whereof we shall enumerate under their several heads in due time . 3. common fines , at first imposed upon townships , upon several occasions , as for bon pleder , for suit and ward , for excuse of attending the sheriffs turn : and these grew in process of time to be fixed and setled revenues . and these again were of two sorts ; such as came within the title of firma comitatus , and were written out under that general head , viz. sub nomine vicecomitis : and some again were written to the sheriff in the particular charge of such and such townships and lands , and so charged upon the towns by the express words of the process . 4. arrentations of assarts and purprestures in wasts and forests set by justices in eyre , which for the most part were written out in charge against the particular lands upon which they were charged : and some perchance were demanded in a gross summ , among other small rents sub nomine vicecomitis . 5. crementum comitatus , or firma de cremento comitatus ; which were some improvements of the king's rents above the ancient vicontiel rents , for which the sheriff answered under the title of firma comitatus . and this crementum comitatus or the several small advances of the old vicontiel rents , were answered under the title of crementum comitatus , or firma de cremento comitatus . but those kinds of firmes de cremento are onely found in the counties of bedford , bucks , norfolk , suffolk , warwick , leicester , wigorn and gloucester : certain other summs annually charged in gross upon the sheriff for certain other small or minute rents under several titles in several counties ; as , de cornagio , de wardis , castle de firma , purprest & escaet de diversis firmis , de minutis particulis , serjancia de tr̄is assert infra divers forest : all which were charged in gross summs upon the sheriff , and sub nomine vic. without expressing any particulars , or upon whom they were charged , which because they were not common to all countries , but varied according to the various usage of several counties , i shall not at large handle , but shall content my self with the enquiry into those that were the common charges of the sheriffs of every several county , viz. the corpus comitatus , and the proficua comitatus . the vicontiel rents that made up the sheriffs firme of the body of the county , came under various titles and denominations in several counties , viz. 1. reditus assize in cumberland , hertford , surry . 2. firme & feodi firme in cumberland , northumberland , nottingham , stafford . 3. firma antiqua in huntington . 4. albe firme in norf. & suff. 5. blanch firmes in ebor ’ , & suff. 6. blanc rents in kent . 7. albus cervus in dorset . 8. auxilium vicecom ’ in cant ’ , cumbr ’ , essex , hunt ’ , leic ’ , north ’ , sussex , warw ’ , wilts . 9. auxilium ad turcum vicecom ’ in devon. 10. hidage in berks , bedf. bucks , oxon. 11. prestatio pro pulchre placitando in bedf ’ , bucks . 12. secta & warda in bedf ’ , bucks . 13. visus franci plegii in bedf ’ , bucks , cant ’ , hunt ’ , essex , hertford , north'ton , somerset , south'ton , stafford . 14. certitudines in berks , here 's ’ , rutland . 15. certi reditus in lincóln , leicester , somerset , south’ton , warwick & wilts . 16. certi reditus ad communem finem in derby , nottingham . 17. reditus pro warda castri in cant ’ , northum ’ , oxon , nor● ▪ , & suff ’ . 18. reditus ad turnum hundredi in dorset . 19. finis antiq●us in essex . 20. finis pro secta curie relaxand ’ in berks & oxon. 21. communes fines in glouc ’ , heref ’ , hert● , ●urry , suffolc , salop. 22. fi●es aldermanno●um in sussex . 23. turnum vicecom ’ in essex & hert● . 24. secta burg. & vill. in cant ’ . 25. suit silver in staf● . 26. hundred silver in nor● . 27. faith silver in staf● . 28. pannel silver in nor● . 29. ward silver in essex . 30. certum lete cum capitag ’ in nor● . 31. leet fee in suff ’ . 32. soken fees in suff ’ . 33. mott fee in salop ▪ these are the general titles of those vicontiel rents that usually came under the title of firma comitatus , which were written generally sub nomine vicecom ' , without expressions of the parti●ulars : but the sheriff that had a particular roll of these vicontiel rents , delivered in that roll many times upon his accompts , though not written especially ●n charge under those names , or in par●icular by the summons of the pipe : and thus much concerning the certain annual revenue ▪ 2. the uncertain annual revenue was the proficuum comitatus , which in ancient times when most of the law-suits were transacted in the counties and hundred-court , was a considerable revenue . but since that time , viz. about the beginning of e. 1. when much of that business was transacted at the great courts , this profit of the county sunk to very little . and in my enquiry touching this part of the revenue , i shall first set down what it was not : secondly , i shall set down what it was , and how it did arise . 1. touching the former of these what it was not ; i say , most clearly it w●● not that profit which is now th● onely considerable profit of the sheriffs employments , viz. the fees and perquisites for the execution of writs , and process and execution issuing out of the king's courts . for , 1. untill the stat. of 23 h. 6. c. 10. there were no fees at all by law due for any execution of process or warrants for the same . till the sta● . of 29 el. 2. there were no fees allowed by law for levying of debts or damages : but by the express provision of the sta● . of westminster the first , the sheriff was bound to execute the king's process without any fee , which is no other ▪ but a declaration of the common law. 2. in no viscontil schedule or accompt of the county that ever i could see or hear of , is there any accompt for fees for execution of process , or any mention thereof . 3. if the sheriff did in those elder times take any fees for execution of writs , there was no colour of reason that he should 〈◊〉 for that : and if he did take more than a reasonable recompence for his pains , it was more than could be justified , and not at all due to the king. ii. but now , as to the second enquiry , what this proficuum comitatus was : and it seems very plain that it was made up principally by these particulars , as most evidently appears by divers accompts of sheriffs in ancient times , when they accompted ut custodes or ballivi , not ut firmarii , viz. 1. the fines , issues and amercements , and other profits of the county-courts , which in those ancient times were very considerable , for it held plea in all writs that were vicontiel , directed immediately to the sheriff out of the chancery , viz. by justices ; and many times not onely personal suits were removed thither out of inferiour court-barons and hundred-courts , but also pleas real , viz. writs of right ; and in ancient time many real actions , especially writs of right were determined in the county . and therefore it is frequent in the old schedules of proficua comitatus , especially in ●orkshire in the times of r. 1. and king john , such as these , viz. de j. s. pro licentia concordandi demimark . de j. s. pro warrantia essonii 2 s. and sometimes a mark ▪ pro mi'a comitatus , sometimes 10 s. quia retraxit se , demimark . de pretio bonorum per distringas demimark . pro transgressione 2 s. pro falso clamore demimark , &c. so that it appears in the accompt of 20 johannis regis , the profits of the bare county-court of york for one half year amounted to 31 li. which is more than 100 l. in a just estimate at this day . 2. the profits of the sheriffs turns , or the sheriffs leets , which had conusance of matter criminal , as his county-court was for matters civil ▪ and the profit consisted , 1. in amercements of sutors that made default . 2. in the fines and amercements of such as were convict of offences inquirable in the turn ; as nusances , bloudshed , assize of bread and beer , &c. and these arose usually to a considerable summ yearly . 3. the profits of the hundred-courts and wappentake-courts ; the profits whereof consisted in the fines , amercements and other perquisites of the hundred-court , which the sheriff sometimes took in kind ; sometimes he let it to firme . these baylywicks of these hundreds , and with them the profits and perquisites of courts were sometimes let to firme by the king , and in such cases the sheriff accompted proficua ballivatus , which often-times arose to very considerable summs . in the time of h. 3. the firmes of the baylywicks of the hundreds in torkshire , beside stancliff and strafford , were let for 100 l. 6 s. 8 d. per annum , which was then a considerable summ , and amounts now in sterling money to thrice as much . but as the business and jurisdiction of the hundred-courts sunk gradually in their employment , ( whereby the perquisites now do but little surmount the charge of keeping them ) so now by the stat. of 23 h. 6. cap. 10. the sheriff is restrained from letting the baylywick to firme ; and most of the hundreds , at least in many counties , are disjoined from the county and granted out , some in fee-farm , and some otherwise , though there have been frequent attempts of rejoining them to the sheriffs by acts of resumption . and these are the profits that made up the proficuum comitatus , for which the sheriff most commonly in ancient time answered as firmarius at a certain rent , though sometimes he accompted for it as custos or ballivus as ●hall be shewn . and i know no other ▪ perquisite that made up the prof●c●●m comitatus but what is above mentioned ; onely in northumberland there were some castle gard-rents that were in truth vicontiel rents , and in their propriety and nature belonged to the corpus comitatus , which yet by constant usage were usually answered among the proficua comitatus . and thus far concerning the annual revenue of the county , both certain and uncertain , chargeable upon the sheriffs collection . 2. the revenue casual consisted of many particles under various heads or titles , viz. debts drawn into the pipe , and thence written out unto the sheriff . fines voluntary or compulsary . seisures of lands and compositions , &c. they may be reduced under these three heads at this day . 1. the debts written out to the sheriff from the several offices , viz. the two remembrancers , clerk of the pipe , &c. 2. the summons of the gree● wax , written to the sheriff with the estreats from the treasurer's remembrancers . 3. the foreign accompt , or seisures of lands for debts or forfeitures . as touching escheated lands and wardships they came under the escheator's charge , and the profits thereof rarely answered by the sheriff , unless ●or some few ancient e●cheats . chap. vi. concerning the manner how the annual revenue of the county was usually answered in the ancient times untill 10 e. 1. having shewed what the annual profits of the county consisted of , i shall now descend to the manner how it was anciently answered . the sheriff , as hath been shewn was the king's bayly for the collecting of the king's revenue : and touching the manner of his collecting and answering them , and therein principally concerning those two great parts of the annual revenue , viz. the corpus comitatus , or when it was in firme , the firma corporis comitatus : and the proficuum comitatus , and when it was in firme , the firma de profic●o comitatus ; both which shall be hereafter more fully explained . these profits were anciently , and are to this day , answered at two terms in the year , viz. michaelmas and easter . but to enable the more effectual levying of them , there always issued to the sheriff before easter and michaelmas , out of the exchequer a writ called the summons of the pipe , which had annexed to it the charge or summs for which the sheriff was answerable , viz. those which were charged upon himself sub nomine vicecomitis , and those which are charged upon others . the form of the writ is recorded in the black book of the exchequer , lib. 2. cap. qualiter fient summonitiones ; which continue to this day , viz. rex vic ’ ebor ’ salutem . vide ficut teipsum & omnia tua diligas quod sis ad scaccarium nostrum westm ’ in cro ’ sancti michaelis , vel in cro ’ clausi paschae , & habeas ibi quicquid debes de vetere firma vel nova : et nominatim haec debita subscripta . and then the whole charge is inserted which commonly began with these annual revenues , viz. de corpore comitatus ( or if it were in firme ) de firma de corpore com. 100 bl . de numero comitatus 10. de proficuo comitatus ( or if in firme ) de firma de proficuo com. 50 and then the summ in gross charged upon the sheriff for divers small rents , and then afterwards all those firmes that were charged upon particular persons seriatim and in order . and according to the order where in they were written out to the sheriff , accordingly in effect were the accompts passed , and the entries made thereof in the great roll of the pipe , onely the particulars in the writ was their charge of the sheriff , unto which he was to give his answer upon his accompt , and then there are entred his discharges . and this firme continues there to this day , with such alterations as are hereafter mentioned : and therefore the ordinance or statute in libro rubro scaccarii , fol. 242. made in 54 h. 3. is nothing else but the stable and fixed method for writing the great roll , observed both before and since that day . primò , scribatur corpus comitatus , deinde eleemosyne constitute , & liberationes & bria ’ prisci vicecom ’ ficut semper fuit consuetum . deinde oneretur vic ’ de firmis pro proficuo comitatus vel de proficuis : deinde scribantur omnes firme tam majores quam minores , &c. and although the certain debet of the sheriff could not be known before the finishing of his accompt , because it could not be known what he levied , and what not ; and what he had paid , and what not ; ( which accompt was not untill the end of his year ) yet it seems there was anciently an estimate what this constant charge of the annual revenue amounted unto , and what the constant allowances amounted unto , according to a medi●m , or possibly according to those firmes and gross summs which were charged immediately upon the sheriff sub nomine vicecomitis ; and these summs were paid into the exchequer at the return of the writ of summons of the pipe , and they were , and are to this day called profre vicecom ' , or the sheriffs profsers . and by the statute of 51 h. 3. called statutum de scaccario , those profsers are appointed to be paid on the morrow of st. michael , and the morrow post clausum ▪ paschae ; and the payment of these profsers are continued to this day : but although they are paid , yet if upon the conclusion of the sheriffs accompt , and after the allowances and discharges had by him , it appears that he be in surplusage , or that he is charged with more than indeed he could receive , he hath sometimes , and for the most part , all his profsers paid or allowed to him again : and so indeed it is but a mock ▪ payment , a payment kept on foot to maintain the old method of his accompt , but is in effect but so much money lent , for he hath it ( and justly enough ) allowed to him back again : the reason and justice whereof shall be shewn hereafter . and now to return again from whence we digressed , i shall now search out the meaning of these firmes , corpus comitatus bl . and numerus comitatus , and firma de corpore comitatus , and proficua comitatus , and firma de proficuo comitatus , i mean as they relate to the sheriffs accompt for what the things were is sufficiently discovered before . therefore as to the corpus comitatus , i have already shewn in the precedent chapter , what it consisted of , viz. the vicontiel rents of the county ; and they consisted of two sorts of payment , viz. those that were answered in blanch money , and those ▪ that were answered in money numbred . and this ordinarily made two titles of the corpus comitatus in most counties , vi● . where there were firmes of these dif●ering natures , and they are then thus noted , viz. de corpore comitatus . 100 l. bl . de numero comitatus 50 and they were written out thus generally , without expressing the several vicontiel rents , but onely the gross summs what they amounted to blanc , and what they amounted to numero , or de numero comitatus . and the sheriff upon his accompt was used to bring in a vicontiel roll , containing these particular vicontiel rents , what they were and what he had levied . by this it appears that in the first consti●●tion of this vi●ontiel accompt the sheriff accompted for these rents as bayly or custos , and answered what he levied though they were written out , and stood upon the great roll all in a lump , and when the sheriff accompted thus , he accompted as custos or bayly . but in process of time ( but that time very ancient ) the sheriff for the time being took the corpus comitatus or vicontiel rents to firme , which firme for the most part amounted to very nea● the entire quantity of the vicontiel rents . and this firme in many counties was very ancient , for we find them mentioned in the pipe rolls of the time of king j●hn and ● . 1. and by this means the sheriff was to answer at his peril his firme , for it became his own debt , and he was to gather up the vicontiel rents to his own use to make himself a saver . she sheriffs commission hereupon was with the reservation of the firme , and although we have not memorials of ●ll those reservations , yet of some we have . int●r communia of 19 e. 1. bedf. bucks , rex 16. jan. anno 19. commisit will. turvil com ’ bedf. & bucks cum pertinent ’ c●stodient quamdiu regi placuerit redde●do inde per annum quantum johannes palam ●uper vicecomes eorund●m reddere consuevit . and by little and little this grew into a usage , the succeeding sheriff answering the firme of the county , and of the profits of the county as his predecessor had done ▪ whereby the firma comitatus and the firma de proficuis comitatus became as setled firmes charged upon the sheriff though there w●●e no express reservation of it upon his patent or commission of sheriff . and because these firmes were in their first reservation proportioned to the value and nature of those rents , which now the sheriff had , as before the king had them , in specie ; hence the sheriffs firme of the county or body of the county as it was proportionable to the same , answered for the vicontiel rents ; so it was proportioned to their nature , viz. because some of the vicontiel rents were in blanc money , the sheriffs firme corresponding to that was answered in blanc money : and some of those rents being answered numero , the sheriffs firme corresponding thereto was answered numero . and by this accompt the charge both upon the summons of the pipe and upon the great roll was altered viz. whereas the former style of the charge was de corpore comitatus blanc & numero , now it was changed , viz. de firma de corpore com ’ 100 l. bl . de numero comitatus 40 ad thus the manner of the charge stood for the times of h. 3. and e. 1. and for some time before , a● least in some counties : and so it continues to this day with such alterations as shall be shewn . and as the corpus comitatus thus by usage grew a firme , or rent charged upon the sheriff , so also did the crementum comitatus , in those counties where such crementa was answered , viz. de firma comitatus 100 l. de numero comitatus 40 de cremento comitatus 10 all being governed by the word firma ▪ for , as i have said , a long letting of these vicontiels to firme , had brought them to be a setled charge , charged upon , and answered by the sherif● ; and he gathered up the vicontiels to his own use , to make himself a saver , and to make good his firme . and thus much concerning the answering and altering of the charges of the vicontiels , or the corpus comitatus both before and after it was in firme . 2. as concerning the proficuum comitatus , the proceeding was much the same as that concerning the corpus comitatus . in the ancienter times , when the proficua comitatus was at all answered by the sheriff , it was answered by him , as custos or bayly upon accompt : though in some ancient pipe-rolls , for some counties we find no distinct mention of it ; as in the pip●-roll of 19. r. 1. glouc. herbertus reddit compotum de 372 l. 14 s. 6 d. bl . de firma comitatus . the like , ibid. 13 johannis . but very frequently afterwards the sheriffs , when they had the corpus comitatus , or the certain annual revenues under a firme , yet answered the proficua comitatus as custos or bayly : for instance , pipe-roll 9 r. 1. bedf. & bucks , simon de bello campo reddit compotum de 369 l. 19 s. 11 d. bl . et de 79 l. 8 s. 1 d. numero , de firma comita ’ , without mentioning the proficua comitatus . but in the pipe-roll 25 h. 3. bedf. & bucks , paulinus pejor , ut firmarius reddit compotum de 369 l. 19 s. 11 d. bl . & de 108 l. numero de firma comitatuum . idem vicecomes reddit compotum de 100 marc ’ pro proficuo comitat. and anno 44 h. 3. alexander hampden , ut firmarius reddit compotum de 369l . 19s . 11d . bl . & de 108l . numero , de firma comitatuum . idem a. reddit compotum de 220 marc ’ pro proficuo comitat’●icut conti●etur in originali . and in 51 h. 3. galfridus rus ut firmarius de anno 50 reddit compotum de 369l . 19s . 11d . bl . & de 108l numero de firma comitat ’ . idem galfridus reddit compotum de 180 marc ’ pro proficuo comitatus de anno 50 . ●icut continetur in quodam rotulo attachiato originali ejusdem anni . and in the year following , edvardus filius regis primogenitus , bartho● ▪ de ire●e subvicecomes ejus reddit pro ●o per breve regis , compotum de 369l . 19s . 11d . bl ▪ & 108l . numero de firma comitatus hoc anno . idem e ▪ vic ’ non reddit de aliquo proficuo comitat ’ quia rex ei commi●it dictos comitatus respond ’ inde per annum de antiqua firma corporis , ●icut co●tinetur in originali anni precede●t●s . and so in the great roll of 50 h. 3. glouc. reginaldus de ale de 372 l. 14 s. 6 d. de firma com ’ . idem vicecomes reddit compotum de 80 marc ’ pro proficuo com ’ & exit ’ ville & nundinorum & hundredi de wencham sicut continetur in quodam rotulo , &c. and so it continued in the time of e. 1. by which it is evident , 1. that sometime there was nothing at all answered pro proficuis , but it was cast into the firme of the county . 2. that although the body of the county , consisting of a certain yearly revenue was in firme , yet often-times the proficua comitatus were not in firme , but the sheriff accompted for them ut custos , sometime higher , sometime lower , as the profits arose . but in process of tim● the proficua comitatus , at least in some counties , fell under a firme , though in some counties sooner , in some later ; and having once begun to be in firme , the succeeding sheriff took it as his predecessour left it ; and so it became in time a setled firme , though not expressly reserved upon the patent of every sheriff . and yet in such cases it was become a setled firme , by usage and custome ; yet when the sheriff found that his firme was too great for these profits ( which were casual , sometimes more , sometimes less ) he was in those elder times admitted to accompt ut custos , without being bound to answer his entire firme , unless he saw fit . but that was rarely in use after the time of h. 4. and accordingly it seems to be intimated in that ordinance of 54 h. 3. above mentioned , for writing the great roll of the pipe , viz. de firmis pro proficuis , vel de proficuis . and this shall suffice for the unriddling of the sheriffs accompts till the 10 and 11 ed. 1. chap. vii . the second period of the sheriffs accompts , viz. how they stood from 10 e. 1. untill 34 h. 8. we have in the former chapter seen how the statute of the sheriffs accompts stood in relation to the annual revenue of the county , whether certain or uncertain , and both stand now reduced under a firme , viz. 1. the corpus comitatus answered under a firme ; partly blanc , and partly numero . 2. the proficua comitatus gradually also reduced into a firme intirely numero ; but with a liberty for the sheriff to ease himself of the excess of his firme above the profits , by submitting to an accompt of these profits as bayly or custos . it fell out in process of time that the kings of england granted away many of those vicontiel rents , and the lands upon which some of them were charged , whereby the sheriff lost much of what was to make up the firme of his county . and although the sheriffs , upon shewing thereof upon their accompts , had an allowance of that which was so granted away , yet it made a trouble and disorder in the sheriffs accompts . and therefore it was necessary to have some provision for the same , but this onely concerned that part of his firme which was of the corpus comitatus , or the firme of the certain annual revenue . therefore by the stat. of r●tland 10 e. 1. this provision is setled . quod non scribatur de cetero corpora comitatum in rotulis singulis , quin scribantur in quodam rotulo annuali per se , & legantur fingulis annis super compotum vicecomitis fingula , viz. in ●ingulis comitatibus ▪ ut sciatur si quid nobis possit accidere in quocunque comitatu . reman●nt vero eorundem comitatuum post terr●s datas scribatur in rotulis annualibus & onerent●r inde vicec●mites . in quibus quidem remanentib●s all●●entur liberationes ▪ eleemosyne , &c. scribantur etiam in eisdem ro●ulis annualibus firme vicecomitum , proficui comitatus , firme serjantiar ’ & assartor ’ , firme civitatum , burgorum & villarum , & alie firme de quibus est respo●sum annuatim ad scaccarium predictum . scriba●tur i● eisdem omnia debita terminata & omnia grossa debita de quibus spes est quod aliquod inde reddi possit . item om●ia debita quae videntur esse clara , tit●lum de novis obtatis . nihil scribatur in rotulo annuali ni●i ea de quib●s est spes , &c. de firmis vero mortuis & debitis de quibus non est spes , fiat u●●s rotulus , & irrotulentur & legantur singulis annis super compot ’ vicecom ’ & debita de quibus vicecomes respondeba● scribantur in rotulo annuali & ib● acquietent●r . and by this act these alterations were made . i. the state of the yearly rents which heretofore made up the corpus comitatus was ▪ examined , and it was considered what parts thereof had been granted out by the king , to the end that the sheriffs fi●me of the body of the county might be abated with respect to those grants ; which reduction of the firme is stiled remane●tia firme post terras datas . ii. the old stile of corpus comitatus was now put out of the charge , and whereas formerly the sheriffs charge was de firma de corpore c●mitatus , now it was changed , and the charge was de remanente firme post terras datas : and accordingly it was forthwith altered in the great roll , onely when those remaining rents that were to make good this remanentia firme , did consist of rents blanc , or of rents numero onely , it was accordingly written , viz. in this manner . de remanente firme de com ’ 100 l. bl . de numero comitatus 50 iii. there was to be extracted out of the great roll the old rents that made up the corpus comitatus and the title thereof , and those firmes that were firme mortue or obsolete , illeviable firmes , and those debts that were desperate , and the great roll of the pipe ( which was written every year ) was to be disburthened of them , and they were to be transcribed into another roll called an exannual roll. this exannual roll to be yearly read to the sherif● upon his accompt , to see what might be gotten : and if any thing appeared to be good , then the same to be recharged again upon the great roll of the pipe. iv. but there was no alteration hereby made of the firma de proficuis : so that by this act as in relation to the firmes and rents of the county these things were done . 1. those firmes or rents that were wholly granted away , were wholly put out of charge , whether they were assart rents or firmes charged upon particular persons or land , or that were within the sheriffs firme as vicontiel rents . 2. if any vicontiel rents that made up the sheriffs firma de corpore comitatus were granted out , the sheriffs firme was abated in respect thereof . 3. if there were any obsolete or dead rents , that were either vicontiel rents or charged upon particular lands or persons which had not been a long time answered , they together with the corpus comitatus were removed out of the annual roll and transmitted into the exannual roll read yearly to the sheriff , to see whether any hope of levying them : but their writing out in charge in the great roll suspended till they might be after discovered to be leviable . and accordingly presently after the making of this act , the firme of the sheriffs charge in the summons of the pipe and the entry thereof upon the great roll was changed , and this memorial is made upon the pipe-roll for every county . corpus hujus comitatus non annotatur hic , sed annotatur in quodam rotulo in quo scribuntur omnia corpora comitatuum angliae in manu regis existentia simul cum firmis mortuis & debitis quasi desperatis quae debe●t singulis annis legi & recitari super compotum vic ’ ut sciatur quid inde accidere possit regi ex quacunque causa que sunt in thesauro . in quibus etiam continetur quod inde vicecomites onerentur in compotis suis predictis de remanentibus firmarum comitatuum post ●erras datas . et quod in eisdem remanentibus allocentur liberationes & eleemosyne constitute & alie allocationes si quas vic ’ habuerint per br'ia regis de eorundem exitibus . and according to this act and memorandum the great roll was certified : for instance , before this act the great roll for gloucester did run thus . j. f. reddit compotum de 372l . 13 . s 6d . blanc . de firma comitatus . but after this alteration it runs thus . in the great roll 12 e. 1. rogerus de lockington vicecomes reddit compotum de 38l . 14s . 11d . blanc . de remanente firme comitatus post terras datas . idem vic ’ reddit compotum de 80 marc ’ de firma pro proficuis comitatus ( which was the old firme thereof before 10 e. 1. ) so again in the pipe-roll 10 e. 1. which was the accompt of the year next before the making of this act the roll runs thus , viz. bedf. bucks , richardus de gollington reddit compotum de 319l . 19s . 11● . bl . & de 108l . numero , de firma comitatus . et reddit compotum de 180 marc ’ de firma pro proficu● comitatus sicut johannes de chedley reddere consuevit . in the roll next after the making of this act it runs thus . richardus de gollington vic ’ reddit compotum de 17l . 7s . bl . de remanent ’ firme ●omitatus post terras datas sicut supra continetur , & de 108l . de firma numero . et vic ’ reddit compotum de 100 marc ’ de firma pro proficuis ●icut continetur in rot. 11 : by which instances these things appear , viz. 1. that the firma de proficuis continued the same as before : for therein no alteration was made by the stat. of rutland . 2. that the title of the firma de corpore comitatus was changed into the title de remanente firme comitatus post terras datas . 3. that the quantity of the firmes were reduced to smaller summs with respect to those firmes or lands charged therewith formerly and since granted out . 4. that yet the titles of blanc and numero continued or were omitted as the nature of the vicontiel rents that remained ungranted were , viz. when all the blanc rents were granted out , the firme de remanente was answered onely numero . where all the rents numero were granted the sheriff answered his firme wholly blanc . if part of his rent blanc were granted and nothing of those rents that were answered numero , he answered the remaining part of his firme blanc , and the entire residue nume●● . for the sherif●s firme of the county before , and de remanente now , did answer to the quantity , and also to the nature or quality of those vicontiel rents that he was to receive to make good his firme . but abating that one alteration from firma corporis comitatus to de remanente firme , and the abridging of the firme as before , and the discharging both of the summons of the pipe and the great roll of those charges that were transcribed into the exannual roll , the rest , both of the charge and great roll continued as before . but notwithstanding this provision gave some ease to the sheriffs in relation to those firmes , yet the charging of them with these firmes became a matter of continual complaint , for that they were still charged with these firmes , yet many of the rents and benefits that should make good their firmes were sold or became illeviable after rot. parl. 25 e. 3. n. 39. item pry les commons que touts vicounts que sont charge de certain firmes pur les counties ou ▪ ils sont vicounts soient discharge de ce● post resceit de lour baily per cause de franchises grant ronne breve soit mand al treasurer & barons deschequer quils faient due allowances al chescun vicount ●ur le render de lour accompts en chescun case la ou ils voilent quil soit reasonable . and in the same parliament in 47 , the sheriffs of bedf. and bucks pray to be discharged of the firmes of the baylywick of their hundreds , because those baylywicks yielded no profit : they are remitted to the exchequer , rot. parl. 45 e. 3. n. 45. the sheriffs of essex and hertford , pray an ease in respect of illeviable firmes charged upon them , and hundreds and rents granted from them : answered , le roy lour ad fait grace . by the statute of 1 h. 4. cap. 11. upon the complaint that the sheriffs are charged with the ancient firmes of their county , notwithstanding that great part of the profits of the same be granted to lords and others : it is enacted that the sheriffs shall accompt in the exchequer and have an allowance by their oaths of the issues of their counties . rot. parl. 11 h. 4. n. 46. & sequent ’ . the sheriffs of several counties complain that they are charged with several ancient firmes which they are not able to levy , viz. essex and hertf. with the firme of the county , and the firme of the profits of the county : york with the firme of the county ▪ post terras datas . devonshire with the remanent ’ firme c●mitatus post terras datas , the firma de proficuis comitatus , and a certain firme of 100 marks called blanch firme . norfolk and suffolk with a firme called de remanent ’ firme post terras datas , and firma de proficuo comitatus , whereof they complain that they cannot levy any thing , and besides the hundred and liberties granted out to the diminution of their profit ; and pray remedy according to the stat. of 1 h. 4. they are referred to the king's council to make such pardon and mitigation as they shall think reasonable . rot. parl. 1 h. 5. n. 34 , 35. the like complaints are made in the behalf of the sheriffs , and prayed that they may have allowances out of their firmes upon their oaths according to the statute of 1 h. 4. but they have the like answer as before , viz. a reference to the council . but rot. parl. 4 h. 5. n. 24. and 4 h. 5. cap. 2. the like petition is received , viz. that by their oaths they may have an allowance of what the cannot levy out of those great firmes that are charged sub nomine vic , ’ viz. firmes ▪ of their counties , blanc firmes de novo incremento , &c. but instead of redress they lost that benefit which the statute of 1. h. 4. had before afforded them . and it is directly enacted that the sheriffs shall have allowances by their oath of things casual , which lye not in firme or annual demand : but of those things which lye in firme annual , or demand annual , they be charged as sheriffs in aforetime had been charged . and thus stood the business of the sheriffs firmes untill the statute of 34 h. 8. which is the next period . chap. viii . touching the state of the sheriffs firmes from the statute of 34 h. 8. till the fourteenth year of the reign of king charles 1. which is the second period . we have seen in the former chapter how the case stood with the sheriffs firme after the statute of rutland , and how the statute of 4 h. 5. cap. 2. bound the firmes charged upon the sheriffs , closer upon them than for some years before : and so they continued till the making of the statute of 34 h. 8. cap. 16. this statute recites those several firmes charged to the sheriff sub nomine vicecomitis , viz. de remanent ’ firme post terras datas : firma de proficuo comitatus , and those other minute firmes demanded sub nomine vicecomitis . and many of these particular small rents that made up these firmes charged upon the sheriffs are lost or not leviable , or extinguished by attainders and dissolutions of monasteries , and yet the sheriffs continue charged with their firmes as formerly . it enacts ▪ 1. that all sheriffs that have no tallies of record shall upon their days of prefixion deliver in rolls or schedules of parchment containing th● particular summs of money which he hath or might have levied as parcel of the said ancient firmes , naming the person and lands of which they are to be levied . 2. that after such schedules delivered the court shall have power to allow and make deductions in the said sheriffs firmes of all such summs of moneys as the firmes shall be more than the summs in such schedules shall amount unto . 3. and the court shall proceed to the recovery of such summs belonging to the said firmes as are omitted in such schedules . 4. that the sheriff have allowance and discharge of all such illeviable summs as are written to him in process . 5. that the sheriff have allowance for entertainment of justices , &c. but this was but a temporary act , and discontinued at the next parliament . but a farther act was after made for the ease of the sheriff , especially in relation to those firmes , viz. 2 and 3 e. 6 ▪ cap. 4. by this it is enacted , 1. that the sheriff shall have such allowances and tallies of reward as they had before the act of 34 h. 8. or may accompt according to the act at their election . 2. that they that accompt and take no tally of record shall be treated in the exchequer as though the act of 34 h. 8. were in force . 3. that those that have no tallies of reward shall have allowance of the diet of the justices , &c. 4. that all such sheriffs as take no tallies of reward shall be discharged of all firmes , goods , chattels , profits , casualties , &c. as they cannot levy or come by . 5. that all that have tallies of reward shall be discharged of all firmes and summs of money that they cannot levy , except ▪ vicontiels with which they are to remain chargeable as before the making of the former act. 6. that sheriffs shall have allowances of such vicontiels as are extinguished by unity of possession in the crown by dissolution of monasteries . 7. that the sheriff at his day of prefixion when he is sworn to his accompt , shall be sworn to deliver into the court of exchequer , rolls or schedules of parchment containing all the particular summs of money which he hath levied or might levy of his vicontiels or other firmes , mentioning the persons and lands of which they are leviable , and the court to take care for the levying of such of the vicontiels , or firmes , which are omitted out of the schedules , for saving the king's rights , and to make out process for the same . upon these acts these things are observable . i. that those sheriffs that have tallies of reward may not discharge themselves of their vicontiels , viz. the remanent ’ firme post terras datas , and cr̄o comitatus , and other small rents charged sub nomine vicecomitis ( if he take his tally of reward ) by oath that he cannot levy it , or all of it . ii. but if such a sheriff will wave his tally of reward , he may accompt according to the statute of 34 h. 8. and so discharge himself of his vicontiels or firmes thereof as well as other firmes . and the truth is , i think , anciently there were some . sheriffs that had tallies of reward , viz. york , northampton , cumb'land , hereford , &c. but since the making of this act they have waved them , accounting it more beneficial to take the benefit of those statutes upon their accompt , than to take their tallies of reward . so that now all sheriffs have an equal benefit of the statutes of 34 h. 8. and 2 and 3 e. 6. iii. but those sheriffs that had no tallies of reward might discharge themselves of their vicontiels and firmes de remanente comitatus , as well as other things that they could not levy . iv. that all sheriffs , as well those that had or had not tallies of reward might discharge themselves of the casual charges , or their annual uncertain charges ; and consequently might , and most ordinarily after this statute did discharge themselves of the entire firme de proficuis comitatus , in case the profits of their counties did not surmount the charge that attended them . and by this means since the making of this statute , those sheriffs that were charged with the firma de proficuis rarely if at all answered any thing for it , because they have always ascertained the court that there were no such profits beyond the charge in collecting them : or that the charge of keeping the county-court , the turns , the hundred-courts , which were the things that made up the firma de proficuis , surmounted the benefit . v. and this making appear was no other than the oath of the sheriff , that he could not levy this or that rent , parcell of his vicontiels , or that there were no proficua comitatus , &c. and this oath of the sheriff hath always been the warrant to discharge him of all or any part of his firmes . by which means it hath most ordinarily come to pass that although the sheriff hath paid in his profers at easter and michaelmas , yet when he comes upon his accompt he doth by his oath discharge himself of all his firma de remanente comitatus , and thereby most times the king becomes debtor to the sheriff for those moneys which he received as profers , or moneys due by the sheriff upon his firme . and it is but reason ; for the statute gives him that just benefit to discharge himself by his oath of what he cannot levy or receive . and yet though the sheriffs have constantly by their oath discharged themselves of the entire firme de proficuis comitatus , and of a great part of their other firmes of the vicontiels , or remanent’firme , and other rents charged upon them in gross summs , by swearing the illeviableness of some of those vicontiels which make up those remanent ’ firme comitatus and gross summs , yet constantly after this act and until the year of our lord 1650 the entire firmes , viz. the entire firme of the remanent ’ post terras datas , and the entire firme de proficuis comitatus , were constantly written out in charge to the sheriff upon the summons of the pipe , and entirely charged upon the great roll ▪ as they had ever been since the statute of rutland , and in the very same manner , though in truth it was for the most part but an idle piece of formality ; for the sheriffs constantly swear it off by virtue of the statute . and thus by these statutes the sheriff had ease by his oath from that part and those parts of his firmes that he sweared he could not levy . but the truth is the sheriffs have taken that part of the statute which was for their ease , viz. to swear in discharge of their firmes , but have two much omitted that other part of the statute that was for the king's advantage , viz. the delivery in upon their oaths the schedules of their vicontiels : by which omission possibly many small , but good , rates have been lost since the statute of 2 and 3 e. 6. which might have been preserved . although possibly the far greater part were lost long before , as appears by the complaints of the sheriffs , in relation to their firmes , in the parliament roll of 11 h. 4. above mentioned ▪ and thus the sheriffs firmes stood untill the 15th of king charles the first . chap. ix . the third period from the fifteenth year of king charles the first untill the year of our lord 1650. and how the sheriffs firmes and accompts stood in that interval . by an order of the court of exchequer made the 25th . junii , 15 car. 1. upon the complaint of the king's firmor of decayed rents it was ordered that the clerk of the pipe should cast up and compute , and severally and distinctly put in charge arrearages of decayed rents and parcells of rents , that process and commissions might be made forth thereupon by virtue of the order . but this proved uneffectual , for although the same was done accordingly , yet the king received litte advantage thereby , neither did it at all convenience the sheriff , or alter the charge written out in the summons of the pipe , or upon the great roll ▪ for the firmes continued still in charge as before , without any alterations : and though somewhat of small consequence was found out , which might help to make good the sheriffs firmes in some particulars , yet the same still fell short , and the sheriffs were still enforced to make use of the advantage of the statute of 2 e. 6. to ease themselves by their oath of illeviable rents , till the year 1650. chap. x. the fourth period of the sheriffs firmes from the y●ar , 1650 unto this day , and how they were answered in that interval . in the times of the late troubles , viz. 6. julii , 1650. there was an order made in the court of exchequer touching the sheriffs firmes and the vicontiel rents , which because it hath set a rule in this business , which to this day is observed , i shall here transcribe verbatim . whereas the sheriffs of several counties of england stand charged in the great roll of the pipe , and have so stood charged anciently with divers summs of money in gross , sub nomine vicecomitis , under the several titles of de rem ’ firm ’ com ’ post terras datas : de veteribus cr̄i comitatus . de firma de proficuo comitatus . de cornagio . de warda castri . de firma perprestur & escaet . de emersis firmis . de minutis particulis . serjantia de tr̄is assart ’ infra diversas forestas , and the like . and the said sheriffs yearly , and from year to year , have been and still are commanded by the summons of the pipe , to levy the same as heretofore to the use of the crown , so now to the use of the common-wealth , without expressing where , of whom , for what cause , or out of what lands or tenements the same are particularly to be levied by the said sheriffs , or out of what particulars the said summs in gross do so arise ; in regard whereof , and that it hath heretofore appeared in the time of king h. 8. upon complaint of the sheriffs , that a great part of the particular rents and annual summs of money , wherewith the said sheriffs do stand charged upon their accompts in gross , had been long before that time payable by monasteries , abbots , priors , attainted persons , and the like , whose estates were come to the crown , and so ought to be discharged by unity of possession ; and yet that the said sheriffs were still charged in gross with the same , to their great burthen and grievance ; it was in the 34th year of the said late king h ▪ 8. enacted by parliament in the case of these sheriffs , and of all sheriffs for the time to come ; that the said sheriffs should be charged to answer upon their accompts yearly such rents and summs of money of the natures aforesaid onely , as by the particular rentals or vicontiels , by them to be yearly delivered in upon oath , they should set forth and make appear to be by them leviable ; and that they should be discharged of all the residue which they upon their oaths should affirm to be illeviable , by virtue of the said act of parliament , which hath been so continued accordingly , ever since . howbeit the sheriffs have from time to time complained , and still complain against the writing forth of more to be levied and answered by them upon their accompts , than such rents and summs of money onely as appears upon the oaths of their predecessors , sheriffs , to be leviable ; and that the rest , appearing to be illeviable , ought to be removed out of their said annual roll , and commissions thereupon to be awarded out of the exchequer , for reviving the same according to the true intention of the said statute of 34 h. 8. which the now lord chief baron , and the rest of the barons , taking into their serious consideration , and being willing and desirous , so far forth as may stand with the preservation of the due rights of the common-wealth , to give all fitting ease and satisfaction to sheriffs therein , according to the meaning of the said statute of 34 h. 8. and according to the statute of rutland , 10 ed. 1. whereby it is provided that nothing shall be written out to the sheriffs but such firmes and debts whereof there is some hope that something may be levied . and that all dead firmes and desperate debts are to be removed from the annual or great roll into the exannual roll , and not to be written forth in process to the sheriff , but to be inquired of to see if any thing may be revived . whereupon the said lord chief baron and the rest of the barons , calling before them the clerk of the pipe , with the secondaries , and the rest of the sworn clerks of the said office , and upon debate of the business , finding it to be a work of great difficulty , labour and care , to examine and set forth in every county , from the originals and records of such antiquity to be compared with later times , the particulars which are from henceforth to be written to the sheriffs to levy in certain . and such as are for the reasons aforesaid to be removed out of the said annual roll have nevertheless in ease of all sheriffs for time to come , with respect to the labour and care of the officers and clerks to be by them undergone therein . it is this day ordered that the clerk of the pipe , the secondaries and other sworn clerks of the said office in their several assignments shall in pursuance of the said statute of rutland , and the said statute of 34 h. 8. use their best endeavour , diligence and care , with as much convenient speed as a work of so great labour and consequence may well be performed , fully to explain and set forth , and shall from henceforth fully explain and set forth , in the subsequent annual roll of this court , so many of the particular rents as they find out and discover by any of the remembrances , books , vicontiels of sheriffs , or other records of this court , to have been , and which be appertaining to the making up of every of the said firmes so charged in gross summs as aforesaid , and shall therein distinguish which and how much of those particular rents have been and are to be yearly answered . and so much of the said firmes as cannot be explained by setting forth the particulars , together with the particulars so set forth and explained , which have been in decay and unanswered by the space of forty years last past , and which are become illeviable , shall be thereupon removed and conveyed out of the said annual roll and sheriffs accompts into the exannual roll of this court. and that commissions and process shall be from time to time awarded to regain and recover the same , according to the true intention of the said statutes . this order produced these effects . i. great care was taken to collect and set forth the obscure rents , and upon what they were charged . ii. the particulars of those rents and vicontiels that made up the sheriffs firmes formerly , of remanent ’ firme post terras datas , and de cremento comitatus , as also those rents that were charged upon the sheriffs in gross summs , as de diversis firmis , de minutis particulis serjantiarum , and such other charges in gross were wholly left out and omitted . iv. instead thereof such particular rents and vicontiels as made up formerly these firmes and gross charges , or money of them as could be discovered were particularly written out in the summons of the pipe , and in the great roll first under the title of several hundreds , wherein the bills lay that were charged or had any lands charged within them with these vicontiels and the several vills under the titles of these hundreds , and the several lands that were charged within those vills , as far forth as could be discovered . v. those vicontiels that were part of those firmes or gross charges , and likewise such particular rents charged formerly in the annual roll in particular , which had not been answered in forty years before , were removed out of the summons of the pipe and great roll into the exannual roll to be put in process as they could be discovered . and thus the form of the charge which had continued ever since 10 e. 1. as to the firmes and gross summs , was too lately changed to the great ease of the sheriffs , of the court and of the people , who were often harassed by the sheriffs to make themselves savers , by levying these obscure incertain and illeviable summs . and all this without any detriment to the king who indeed before had an appearance of great firmes and summs expressed in the summons of the pipe and great roll , which yet were sworn off too little by the sheriffs in pursuance of the statute of 23 e. 6. vi. but besides all this , the firma de proficuo comitatus was also wholly laid aside and put out of the charge of the summons of the pipe and the great roll. it is true there is no clear warrant for putting the firme out of charge by that order , for that order seems to extend onely to rents and vicontiels , which indeed made up the other in firmes and gross summs charged upon the sheriffs . but this firme was answered for the profits of courts and other casual perquisites , and not in respect of any vicontiel or annual rent . but yet for all that , the true extent of that order might extend to put that firme wholly out of charge , since it is apparent that the profits of the sheriffs courts whether hundred-courts , county-courts or time , do scarce quit the charges of keeping them at this day , nor for a long time past . neither is the king de facto at any loss thereby , for though before this order this firme was indeed in charge and carried the shew of some benefit to the king , yet it was wholly sworn off by the sheriffs by virtue of the statute of 2 and 3 e. 6. onely it seems reasonable that though the firma de proficuis be put out of charge so that the sheriff should not be compelled to answer a firme to that which yields little or no benefit , yet that the sheriff should be charged to accompt for the proficua comitatus as bayly or custos though not as firmor . and that therefore there should stand in charge upon him to accompt de proficuis , which is all that i can find considerable to be supplied in that order , orvin the present methodizing of the great roll in relation hereunto . and although this order was made in the late time of trouble , yet it hath obtained and stood in force unto this day . the late act of this parliament intituled an act for the preventing of the unnecessary delays of sheriffs , &c. hath this clause sutable to the said order , viz. and to the end that sheriffs may for the time future be eased of the great charge and trouble which they heretofore have been put to in passing their accompts in the exchequer , occasioned partly in regard that divers summs of money have stood charged upon them in gross without expressing from what persons , or for what cause , or out of what lands and tenements , the same are particularly to be levied , or out of what particulars the said summs in gross do arise , whereby it cometh to pass that the sheriffs do still stand charged in gross with divers summs of money which were heretofore payable by abbots ▪ priors , persons attainted , and such other persons , whose estates are since come to the crown , or are otherwise discharged or illeviable . and partly by the accompt of seisures , or foreign accompts , and by exaction of undue fees of sheriffs upon their opposals . but it is enacted , &c. that no sheriffs shall be charged in accompt to answer any illeviable seisure , firme , rent or debt , or either seisure , firme , rent , debt or other matter or thing whatsoever , which was not writ in process to him or them to be levied wherein , the persons of whom , or the lands and tenements out of which , together with the cause for which the same shall be so levied shall be plainly and particularly expressed , but shall be thereof wholly discharged without petition , plea or other trouble or charge whatsoever . this act had in effect discharged the old charges in gross , had not this business been before setled by the order of 1650. but by that order the same thing is done and much more , and put into a very good order . and thus i have done with this ●ntricate argument touching the sheriffs firmes . and the occasion of my strict enquiry into it was , a difference between the auditors and the clerk of the pipe : upon the whole debate whereof , i found onely these matters . 1. that , in truth , the great occasion of complaint was , that the clerks of the pipe used different methods of accompting from the auditors of the revenue , the not observance whereof occasioned a mistaken representation by the auditors that there was a deceit in their accompts , whereas it appeared to be no such thing : for when both accompted their several ways , the issue was that the accompts agreed in the conclusion . 2. that the firme de proficuo comitatus was put out of charge without warrant , and it was thought by the auditors , a great and considerable loss to the crown , supposing that the fees for execution of process and writs were to make up that firme : but this is sufficiently unriddled before . 3. that there was an allowance to the sheriff of bucks of a considerable yearly summ , ut apparatori comitatus : this indeed ought not to be allowed at this day , the reason thereof ceasing as hath been shewed ; and therefore from henceforth that charge is to be disallowed , but the clerk of the pipe not greatly blamable herein , because there was an order of the court in the queens time for making that allowance : but the reason whereupon that order was made was a mistake and an errour in the court not in the clerk that followed the order . 4. that there is no accompt given for the firmes of baylywicks as was anciently ; which indeed , was parcel of the proficuum comitatus , as hath been shewed . but the truth is , there is no great reason for any such complaint ▪ the firmes of baylywicks being taken away by act of parliament , and levy disused in most places . 5. that when a sheriff is in surplusage they make it good unto him out of any other debt by the sheriff himself , or any other sheriff of the same or any other county , without any warrant from my lord treasurer or the court. and besides that , the other sheriff is discharged upon the roll of his debt , and it doth not appear upon what reason . and indeed , this is a thing fit to be reformed , and that such allowances be not made without warrant from the lord treasurer , or order of court , and that an entry or memorandum thereof be made upon the roll of the debts so discharged . but yet , the truth is , this manner of allowance hath been a long time used , and it is no novelty or late attempt , neither is there any great damage to the king by it , for it is but the payment of one real debt with another . but howsoever , this is fit to be reformed by order of the court that the sheriffs deliver not in the roll of the vicontiel as is required by the statute . and it is true , he ought to doe it or should be sworn thereunto . but the necessity is not now so great , because the particular rents are now charged upon the great roll by virtue of the order of 1650 , which doth in a great measure supply that defect , and yet the delivery in of the vicontiel roll may be fit to be revived . the most of the rest of the complaints were touching particulars mischarged , or not charged , but the errours were rather in the complainers than in the pipe , and for want of a clear understanding of those intricate and obscure proceedings of the pipe. and upon a full search of the particulars , i find the clerks of the pipe gave very clear satisfaction therein . upon the whole matter of these accompts , i do observe these two or three observables . i. that the inconvenience of retaining the old formalities of proceedings , the same terms and words , and very same mood of all things in accompts , when the nature of things and times requires a change , and accommodation of new forms or expressions as a piece of hurtfull superstition ; therefore , although the change of forms of this nature is not to be done rashly and precipitantly , yet when the exigence of things requires it , there must be an accommodation to the present use , understanding and exigence of affairs . and hence it is that the accompts of the auditors of the revenue are more easily intelligible as being framed to the use and exigence of the times ; but the accompts of the pipe more mysterious and perplexed , to persons unacquainted with them , for till 10 e. 1. they kept in all things the precise form of writing their great roll , as had been used in king stephen's time . and the same form they kept untill 1650 , abating the alterations made in 10 e. 1. not without great inconvenience to the king's people and sheriffs . ii. that these small rents and vicontiels would be with much more advantage to the king , and be sold off to the several persons and townships chargable therewith , than be kept in method of collection , as now they are , unless some more ready collecting of them by the receivers could be thought upon , provided the money arising by sale be laid out presently in more certain revenue : for , 1. they are in respect of their smallness , and dispersedness , and uncertainty of charge and manner of collecting very subject to be lost , as they have been commonly from time to time . 2. the charge of collecting and accompting for them by the sheriff is very great , and the trouble and charge to the people very much more . 3. the cost and trouble to the king in respect of officers writing and other matters relating thereunto , might be well retrenched thereby . and yet when all is done , it brings a great trouble , and makes a great noise as if it were a revenue of great moment , and yet by that time the sheriffs have done swearing of particulars as illeviable , or that they know not where to charge it , it becomes a very pitifull inconsiderable business , and scarce answering the charge of the collecting , accompting and answering it . for it must be observed that although by the order of 1650 , the charge is more certain than formerly , yet the sheriff hath still by the law the benefit of the statute of 2 and 3 e. 6. even as to those ascertained rents , and if he cannot find them he is , and ought to be discharged upon his oath thereof . and accordingly is daily discharged of many of those rents though rendred much more certain by that order , and the pains and method of the charge and accompt , used in pursuance hereof . whereby in process of time , many , even of these rents particularly charged by virtue of that order , will be successively lost . sed de his curent superiores . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44301-e570 dy. 6. & ● ed. 6. ●astal money . 345. davies 24. a report containing an essay for the amendment of the silver coins lowndes, william, 1652-1724. 1695 approx. 166 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 82 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a49333 wing l3323 estc r39081 18211567 ocm 18211567 107149 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a49333) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107149) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1127:19) a report containing an essay for the amendment of the silver coins lowndes, william, 1652-1724. 159, [1] p. printed by charles bill, and the executrix of thomas newcomb..., london : 1695. attributed to lowndes by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. running title: an essay for the amendment of silver coins. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher 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g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coinage -england -early works to 1800. money. 2002-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (oxford) sampled and proofread 2002-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a report containing an essay for the amendment of the silver coins . london , printed by charles bill , and the executrix of thomas newcomb , deceas'd ; printers to the kings most excellent majesty . 1695. to the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesties treasury . may it please your lordships , in obedience to your lordships command , i have endeavoured to inform my self of divers matters which concern the gold and silver moneys , and of the most practicable methods for new coining the latter , and supplying , in the mean time , sufficient coins to pay the kings taxes and revenues , and to carry on the publick commerce ; and i do humbly represent to your lordships , that i have made diligent search into several records , books and writings , to see what acts or things have been formerly done or practised , which might serve for precedents , or give any light for the re-establishment of the coins that should now go , and have course as the lawful money of the kingdom . it is true ( as i find in a book of great authority , remaining in the exchequer , called the black book , written by gervase of tilbury , in the time of henry the second ) that there were anciently falsifiers and clippers of money ; for when king william the first , for the better pay of his warriours , caused the firmes , which till his time , had for the most part been answered in victuals , to be converted in pecuniam numeratam , he directed the whole from every county to be charged on the sheriff , to be by him brought into the exchequer ; adding , that the sheriff should make the payment , ad scalam , hoc est ( as the aforesaid author expounds it ) solveret preter quamlibet numeratam libram sex denarios ; and the money afterwards declining , and becoming worse , it was ordained , that the firmes of manors should not only be paid ad scalam , but also ad pensam , which latter was the paying as much money for a pound sterling , as weighed twelve ounces troy ; so that payment of a pound de numero imported twenty shillings , ad scalam imported twenty shillings six pence , and ad pensam imported so much as weighed twelve ounces . and in the time of king henry the second , when the bishop of salisbury was treasurer , who considered , that though the money did answer numero & pondere , it might nevertheless be mixt with copper or brass ; therefore ( consilio regis & ut regiae simul & publicae provideretur vtilitati ) a constitution was made , called the trial by combustion . the whole progress whereof , as it was practised in the exchequer in those days , is exactly set down in the said book , and differs little or nothing from the present method of assaying silver for its fineness ; as plainly appears in that place where the said gervase treats of the office of the miles argentarius , and that of the fusor , an extract whereof is hereunto annexed . it appears also that the crown rents were many times reserved in libris albis or blanch firmes ; in which case the payer was holden dealbare firmam , that is , his base money or coin worse than standard was molten down in the exchequer , and reduced to the fineness of standard silver , or ( instead thereof ) he paid to the king twelve pence to the pound by way of addition . but the most remarkable deceipts and corruptions found in ancient records to have been committed upon the coins of the kingdom , by offenders , were in the time of king edward the first , when there was imported a sort of light money made with a mitre ; another sort of light money with lyons upon it ; a third sort of copper blancht , to resemble the money of england ; a fourth sort of light money resembling that of king edward ; a fifth kind that was plated : and the crime of rounding money ( which i take to be the same with clipping ) was then in fashion , all which was done out of england . and the merchants to avoid the search at dover and sandwich , concealed the parcels in bails of cloth , and brought them in by other ports . les queux choses si elles suissent longent so efferts ( says the book ) elles mettere yent la monye d'englitere a nient : and the chief remedies then applied were , first , to cry down all money that was not of england , ireland or scotland : secondly , that such as arrived from beyond seas , should shew the money they brought with them to the king's officers : thirdly , and not hide it in fardels , upon pain of forfeiture : fourthly , that the light money and the clipt money might be bored through without contradiction : fifthly , and that the same should be received and paid by weight at a certain rate ; and that the persons having such clipt or light money , should bring the same to the king's changers , who were settled in several great towns in the kingdom , to be new coined . and by what i have read in libro rubeo ( which is in the upper exchequer ) concerning the changers ( who , as well as the masters of the mint , had several offices erected in divers parts of the kingdom ; namely , at london , canterbury , bristol , kingston upon hull , newcastle and exeter ) a principal business of these changers was to buy in the silver of the bad money ; que les pollards & crockards & les autres mauvaises moneis contrefaits soront , abatues : and there was a writ then directed to the sheriffs , to prohibit the importation of clipt or counterfeit moneys , and the use thereof in merchandizing or negotiating , under severe penalties , and commanding those that had such money to bore it through , and to bring it to the king's change to be new coined . and i find by an indenture in the third year of queen elizabeth ( at which time there was base moneys that had been coined by publick authority . ) that it was ordained that fleetwood , under treasurer for the upper houses of the mint in the tower , should take in by number and tale , the base moneys therein mentioned , at such rates or values as were appointed by a proclamation in that behalf ; giving bills to the parties under his hand for the receipt thereof . and the officers of the mint were to melt down and repay the same in sterling moneys , to the parties or their deputies , shewing and delivering their bills , having regard to the time when every man brought in his money . and the base money received , and the sterling money repaid were to be entred in two legers ; one to be kept by the said under-treasurer , and the other by the tellers . and the comptroller and assay-master were to keep several books of refining and melting the base money , to the intent they might be vouchers to the said under-treasurer , who was to account to the queen for the whole . these or such like provisions might serve well enough in those times , when there was not much money , and but little trade or occasion for it , and when the species then in being , which one would think consisted anciently of pence or pieces of small denomination , were not corrupted or diminished to that degree as they are at this day . but considering the present low condition to which our moneys are almost generally reduced , and the necessary use thereof in daily occasions , and particularly in the ways of trade , upon which this nation depends more at this time than it did formerly ; i do not see how the prudence of our ancestors ( which in many constitutions relating to the exchequer and the mint , appears to have been transcendent and admirable , especially in matters of charge and discharge , and preventing frauds and abuses upon the crown ) can , without the devising new or additional means and methods , be made applicable to a present work of new coining the silver moneys , and supplying currant coins for the commerce , and for the payment of taxes and revenues in the mean time . if therefore the king ( to whose regality the power of coining money , and determining the weight , fineness , denomination and extrinsick value thereof doth solely and inherently appertain ) shall judge it necessary to have the old or present species of silver coins , or so much thereof as hath been clipt or otherwise dimnished , to be melted down and recoined , i humbly conceive new means and methods for doing the same must be devised . and in regard money ( which some lawyers have called firmamentum belli & ornamentum pacis ) is most certainly of the greatest importance to his majesty , in supplying the taxes , revenues and loans , for carrying on the war , and supporting his royal estate ; as also to his subjects , with relation not only to their trade and commerce , but also to all other ordinary means of livelihood : the said means and methods for re-establishing the coins , and the many weighty things depending thereupon , ought to be well excogitated , and to be considered and adjusted by persons of the greatest judgment and sagacity ; and ( if i had not been enjoyned by your lordships ) i should scarce have adventured upon a subject so very difficult and curious . i have imployed my thoughts chiefly upon such matters as are reduceable to the following heads , viz. first , concerning the standard of the gold and silver coins , and the establishment of a iust and reasonable foot for the course of the same . second , concerning the present state and condition of the gold and silver coins . third , whether it be or be not absolutely necessary at this time to re-establish the same . fourth , the proposing of means that must be obtained , and the proper methods to be used in and for the amendment of the silver moneys . fifth , to consider what must supply the commerce , pay taxes , &c. whilst the clipt money is under its new fabrication . as to the particulars . first , of the standard . this properly brings under consideration two matters relating to the coins ; namely , the degree of fineness , and the weight of the pieces . in treating upon which i shall humbly take leave to observe this method . first , to explain what is meant by sterling moneys . secondly , to set down historically the proportions of fine gold , and fine silver , with the respective allays , which the masters or workers of the mints have been holden to observe in the fabrication of the moneys of this realm , by their respective indentures which i have found out , beginning with those in the time of king edward the third , ( the farthest extant ) and ending with the indenture of the mint now in being . thirdly , to propose the standard of fineness , which ( in my humble opinion ) ought to be continued for the new coins , which his majesty may be pleased to direct at this time , with my reasons for the same , to be deduced from the experience of former times , and an impartial regard to present circumstances . fourthly , to set forth how the value of the gold and silver in our english coins hath been raised from time to time , which considers the weight and number of pieces in a pound troy. fifthly , to offer my humble opinion upon that subject , in reference as well to the old coins now in being and unclipt , as also to the new moneys , which may be directed to be made , as aforesaid , together with my reasons for the same , to be also grounded upon the experience of former times , and a due consideration of present circumstances : all or most of which points being of great moment , to be well weighed in this affair , i do humbly pray your lordships that i may discuss them severally . first , it is believed by some authors , ( and not without reason ) that in the most ancient times , when money was first coined within this island , it was made of * pure gold and silver , like the moneys now currant in some other nations , particularly in hungary and barbary , where they have pieces of gold called ducats and sultanesses ; and in the kingdom of industan , where they have pieces of silver called rupees , which i have seen , and wherein ( as i am inform'd ) there is little or no allay : and that afterwards it being found convenient in the fabrication of the moneys , to have a certain quantity or proportion of baser metal to be mixt with the pure gold and silver , the word sterling was introduced , and hath ever since been used , to denote the certain proportion or degree of fineness , which ought to be retained in the respective coins composed of such mixture , as aforesaid . there are some authors that fancy this word sterling took its name from a castle in scotland , as if it were first coined there . some have derived it from a star or astracism , which they imagine to have been impressed thereupon . there are those that fetch it from the name of an ancient indenture or bond which was taken by the jews ( those old userers ) for security of their debts , and which was called the iews star. but others think it comes from the name of a people called easterlings , as the first workers of it in england . of which latter opinion is the author of a very old treatise concerning money , entred at large in the red book abovesaid , in the time of king edward the third . for my own part , i do not believe the word sterling ( denoting the degree of fineness or goodness , as aforesaid ) was known in the time of the conqueror , in regard there is no mention thereof in libro iudiciario or the dooms-day book , which valueth every manor ( as it was worth in the times of the confessor and conqueror respectively ) in money ad numerum , or ad pensam or ad pondus , but not in sterling money , and yet the denomination of sterling was soon after introduced , because the statute of the twenty fifth of edward the third refers to ancient sterling , and so do the old indentures of the mint , and the ancient entries concerning money . by reading of which it seems evident to me , first , that a sterling or easterling , in a restrained sence , signified nothing but a silver peny , which at first was about three times as heavy as a peny is now , and was once called a lundress , because it was to be coined only at london , and not at the countrey mints . secondly , that the words sterling and standard are synonimous terms . thirdly , that the ancient sterling of england , mentioned in the said statute , and the standard and allay of old easterling , mentioned in the indenture , le 20 jour de may l' an du regne edward iii. cestassavoir d' engletere quarant sisme & de france trent tierce entre le roy & bardet de malepilys de florence ; and the old right standard of england , which i find in other indentures of the mint , are to be understood thus : a pound weight troy of gold was divided into twenty four carats , and every carat into four grains of gold ; and a pound weight of the old sterling , or right standard gold of england , consisted of twenty three carats and three grains and an half of fine gold , and half a grain of allay . which allay ( as the red book says ) might be silver or copper . again , a pound weight troy of silver , was then ( as it has been ever since ) divided into twelve ounces , every ounce into twenty peny weight , and every peny weight into twenty four grains ; every grain of silver was called a subtile grain , sixty of which were equal to one grain of gold , and a pound weight of old sterling , or right standard silver of england , consisted then ( as it does now ) of eleven ounces and two peny weight of fine silver , and eighteen peny weight allay . fourthly , that sterling money generally in judgment of law , upon the fines , covenants , and other instruments that have had occasion to refer thereunto , hath always imported , and doth still import only such coins of gold or silver , as have been made by successive masters and workers of the mint , in certain proportions of fine metal , mixt with allays , according to their respective indentures or covenants with the crown , from time to time , and made currant by the same indentures , or by proclamations or commands of the sovereign : which proportions of fineness and allay , have differed from time to time . and ( having thus expounded what is meant by sterling and old sterling ) those differences will come properly to be considered . second , in the next place therefore , i am to set down historically the proportions of fine gold and fine silver , with the respective allays , which the masters or workers of the mint have been holden to observe in the fabrication of the moneys , by their respective indentures : of which there is one mentioned in the red book , to bear date in the eighteenth year of king edward the first , who sent for workmen from beyond sea , to inform him of the manner of making and forging of money ; but not finding any indenture by which one can judge certainly of the said proportions , till the reign of edward the third ; from whose time the several indentures of the mint , or most of them , are in the receipt of the exchequer , in custody of your lordships and the chamberlains there , and where i have had the opportunity carefully to inspect and examine the same . i shall therefore humbly take leave to begin with these , and proceed in the order following . the standard for the gold coins was the old standard , or sterling of twenty three carats , three grains and half fine , and half a grain allay . and the standard for the silver coins was the old sterling of eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay . 20 e. 3. 23. 27. 30. 46. 18 r. 2. 3 h. 4. 9 h. 5. 1 h. 6. 4. 24. 49. 5 e. 4. 11. 16. 1 r. 3. 29 h. 7. all these imported the same standard , as above , both for gold and silver . ralph rowlett and martin bowes , masters and workers , covenanted to make two sorts of gold coins ; to wit , sovereigns , rialls , angels , george-nobles , and half-angels of the said old standard , and crowns of the double rose , and half-crowns to be twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and silver moneys , to wit , groats , half-groats , sterlings , half-pence and farthings of the old sterling . another indenture to the same effect . the said ralph rowlett and martin bowes , masters and workers , covenanted to make the sovereigns , half-sovereigns , angels , angellets , and quarter-angels of twenty three carats fine gold , and one carat allay ; and silver money , to wit , testoons to go for twelve pence ; and groats , half-groats , pence , half-pence and farthings , to be ten ounces fine , and two ounces allay . the king was to have out of every twelve ounces of fine gold coined two carats , which yielded fifty shillings : and the silver to be coined after the rate of six ounces fine and six ounces allay ; which was a wretched debasement . the gold coins , called sovereigns , half-sovereigns , crowns and half-crowns , were to be only twenty carats fine , and four carats allay ; and the silver coins , to wit , testoons , groats , half-groats , pence , half-pence and farthings to be four ounces fine , and eight ounces allay , which was worse . the same with the last preceding . a commission to make sovereigns , half-sovereigns , crowns and half-crowns of gold at twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay : and shillings of silver of six ounces fine and six ounces allay . another to make sovereigns , half-sovereigns , crowns and half-crowns of gold of the old standard ; namely , twenty three carats three grains and an half fine , and half a grain allay . another to make shillings of silver , three ounces fine , and nine ounces allay . to coin sovereigns , angels and half-angels of the old standard , to wit , twenty three carats three grains and half fine , and another sort of gold , to be twenty two carats fine and two carats allay . to coin silver crowns , half-crowns , shillings , six pences , three pences , pence , half-pence and farthings , eleven ounces one peny weight fine , and nineteen peny weight allay . to coin gold twenty three carats , three grains and an half fine ; and silver eleven ounces fine . the old standard for gold and silver . to coin one sort of gold of the said old standard , and another sort to be only twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and silver moneys of the old standard . two mints were in the tower , whereof one to convert the base money into sterling , which continued about a year . and here it may not be improper to note , that not long after , the queen in a publick edict , told her people , that she had conquered the monster which had so long devoured them ; meaning the debasing of the standard . the old standard perfectly restored both for gold and silver coins . the same continued . the same for gold. a commission to make sovereigns , half-sovereigns , crowns and half-crowns of gold to be twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay . to make angel-gold twenty three carats three grains and half fine , the old standard ; and to make sovereigns , &c. twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and to make crowns , shillings , &c. of silver eleven ounces and two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay , the old standard . to coin the unites , double crowns , british crowns , &c. of gold to be twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , and the old standard for silver continued . to coin rose-rialls , spur-rialls , and angels of the old standard of twenty three carats three grains and an half fine . to coin rialls of the same standard , and unites , &c. twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay . to coin rialls and angels of the old standard of twenty three carats three grains and an half fine , and half a grain allay ; and to coin unites and crowns twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and to coin the silver moneys of the old standard of eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay . to coin rialls and angels of the old standard of twenty three carats , three grains and an half fine , and half a grain allay ; and to coin unites and crowns twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and silver moneys of the old standard of eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay . to coin the pieces ( since called guineas ) running for twenty shillings , half-guineas , &c. twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and silver moneys of the old standard . to coin ten shilling pieces , twenty shilling pieces , fourty shilling pieces , and five pound pieces , of gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; and silver moneys of the old standard of eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay . the same standard for gold and silver . upon duly considering this history or relation for so many years past , it may not be improper to observe to your lordships thereupon , first , that above four hundred years ago , the standard for the silver coins was eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay . and so it is at this day by the present indenture of the mint , and the same is that which was called the old sterling , or easterling . secondly , that the standard for the gold coins four hundred years ago , was twenty three carats three grains and an half fine , and half a grain allay . and at this day the standard of gold by the indenture of the mint is twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay ; the difference of which is only one carat three grains and an half . thirdly , that the old standard obtained for the most part of the said number of years , and the chief deviations from the same were in the reigns of henry the eighth , and edward the sixth . the which being premised , the third thing coming under consideration concerning such new coins as his majesty shall think fit to direct , is my own poor opinion , which i humbly offer , and ( as i conceive ) with some clearness , that the present standard of fineness , or purity ought to be continued , namely , of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay for the gold ; and eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay for the silver , in all the new coins that shall be now directed . and my reasons for the same are as follows , first , because our ancestors ( whose wisdom we have no cause to distrust ) have for many ages endeavoured to keep up the old sterling , or to a standard very near it ; which obtained ( as evidently appears by the foregoing narrative ) for the greatest part of four hundred years . secondly , although the former debasements of the coins by publick authority , especially those in the reigns of king henry the eighth , and king edward the sixth , might be projected for the profit of the crown ; and the projectors might measure that profit by the excessive quantities of allay that were mixt with the silver or the gold : and although this was enterprized by a prince who could stretch his prerogative very far upon his people ; and was done in times when this nation had very little commerce , inland or foreign , to be injured or prejudiced thereby : yet experience presently shewed that the projectors were mistaken , and that it was absolutely necessary to have the base moneys reformed ; the doing whereof was begun by king edward the sixth himself , carried on by king philip and queen mary , and happily finished ( though not without great charge , vexation and trouble , the only offspring of such designs ) by queen elizabeth , who ( as is noted above ) in the third year of her reign , when money was not plentiful , erected a distinct mint in the tower , to convert the base ( not counterfeit money ) into sterling . thirdly , because making of base moneys will disgrace this government in future generations , the criticks in every age being apt to estimate the goodness or badness of ancient governments by their coin , as hath been done , especially in the case of the romans ; and a temptation of this kind ought not to be left for future ages , to the prejudice of the honour of the present king. fourthly , although it must be acknowledged , that the putting a greater allay into the coins , so long as they should still retain so much purity or fineness as would render them answerable to the currant price of silver in bullion , would be no real injury to the subject : yet it must be considered , that when the causes which at present make silver scarce and dear shall cease , silver it self will fall in its price . and if in the mean time the coins shall have been debased , then after the retrieving of the trade and wealth of the nation , and the bringing down of the price of silver thereby , the damage which the crown will sustain in its taxes , revenues and loans , and the loss which the nobility , gentry and commonalty ( especially ecclesiastical persons ) will find thereby , in the payment of their debts , rents and annuities ( many of which are so fixt and establisht upon previous reservations or grants in fee , or in tail , or for lives , or years certain , or are so payable by assurances , already perfected , as that it will not be in their powers to alter the same proportionably to the debasement of the coin , and the loss or damage , after such bringing down the price of silver , will be proportionable to the excessive allay to be put into the money ) will continue and have duration at least till all such base money can be abated : the meer reforming of which would take up a considerable time , and be a new trouble and difficulty after the ending of the present war , and after the re-establishment of the trade and wealth of the kingdom . fifthly , our present standard is well known in the world , the same agreeing with most of the foreign mints in europe , and all foreigners that deal with us , regard the intrinsick value more than the extrinsick denomination , and exchange with us accordingly . if base money should be made , the intrinsick value thereof would be uncertain , or might be disputed ; and in disputes of such a nature , it is more likely that they will gain upon us , than we upon them , and so the exchange become more to our prejudice than it is at present . sixthly , the debasing of money by publick authority is needless and frivolous ; for whatsoever advantages ( grounded upon necessity ) can be propos'd thereby , will arise more easily , and have better precedents in raising the value of the standard ; which is the next subject to be discussed : not doubting but that your lordships by these , and other reasons which might be given ( if they were not too tedious ) will be fully convinc'd , that the present standard of fineness is to be continued . the fourth thing which i have undertaken , in respect of the standard , is to set forth how the value of the gold and silver in the english coins hath been rais'd from time to time , which considers the weight and number of the pieces in the pound troy. and because ( in case of new making silver moneys ) the adjusting and establishing the extrinsick value or denomination thereof , at which the same must have course , is of the greatest moment and consideration in this affair , both to the king and all his people ; i could not spare my self the trouble of making the following deduction from the indentures of the mint ; which being duly meditated upon , will give a good deal of light and precedent for the rates , to which the value of gold and silver in our coins are to be raised and established at this time . an indented tryal-piece of the goodness of old sterling was lodged in the exchequer , and every pound weight troy , of such silver was to be shorn at twenty shillings three pence , according to which , the value of the silver in the coin , was one shilling eight pence farthing an ounce . memorandum , i find no farther indentures concerning this matter , from edward the first , till edward the third . every pound weight of gold of the old standard abovementioned , namely , twenty three carats , three grains and a half fine , and half a grain allay , was to be coin'd into fifty florences , to be currant at six shillings apiece ; all which made in tale fifteen pounds , or into a proportionable number of half-florences , or quarter-florences : this was by indenture between the king and walter de dunflower , master and worker . a pound weight of gold of the old standard abovementioned , was to contain thirty nine nobles and an half , at six shillings eight pence apiece , amounting in the whole to thirteen pounds three shillings and four pence in tale , or a proportionable number of half-nobles , and quarter-nobles : which was by an indenture between the king and percivall de perche . memorandum , by this indenture the tryal of the pix was established . a pound weight of gold of the said old standard , was to make by tale fourty two nobles at six shillings eight pence apiece , amounting to fourteen pounds , or a proportionable number of half-nobles , and quarter-nobles : and a pound weight of the old sterling silver was to make twenty two shillings six pence : and percival de perche was master . the like when iohn donative , of the castle of florence , and philip iohn denier were masters and workers . memorandum , by this indenture were also coined half-pence and farthings of silver . a pound weight of gold of the old standard was to make by tale fourty five nobles , amounting to fifteen pounds , or a proportionable number of half or quarter nobles : and a pound weight of silver of the old sterling , to make by tale seventy five grosses ( i. e. groats ) amounting to twenty five shillings , or one hundred and fifty half-grosses , going for two pence apiece , or three hundred sterlings going for pence apiece : and henry brissell was master and worker . the like , only adding half-sterlings , of which six hundred in a pound troy. the like . the like : and bardet de malepilys was master and worker . the like : and nicholas malakin , a florentine , was master and worker . the like : and here half-pence are called mailes . a pound weight of gold of the said old standard was to make by tale fifty nobles , or one hundred half nobles , or two hundred quarter nobles , amounting to sixteen pounds , thirteen shillings , and four pence in tale. and a pound weight of silver of the said old standard , was to make by tale ninety grosses or groats , or one hundred and eighty half-groz , or three hundred and sixty sterlings , or seven hundred and twenty mailes , or one thousand four hundred and fourty farthings , amounting to thirty shillings : and bartholomew goldbeater was master and worker . a pound weight of gold of the said old standard was coin'd into fourty five rialls , going for ten shillings apiece , or a proportionable number of half-rialls , going for five shillings apiece , or riall-farthings , going for two shillings and six-pence apiece , or into sixty seven angels and an half , going for six shillings and eight pence apiece , or a proportionable number of angelets going for three shillings and four pence apiece : and consequently the pound troy of gold was coined into twenty two pounds ten shillings by tale , and a pound weight of silver of the old sterling was coined into one hundred and twelve groats and an half , making in tale thirty seven shillings and six pence , or a proportionable number of half-groz , sterlings or pence , half-pence or farthings : and here sir giles dawbeny was master and worker . is the same with that of the ninth of henry the fifth , lowering the gold to sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and four pence , and the silver moneys to thirty shillings : and robert mansfeild was master and worker . note , here the value of the silver as well as the gold in the coins was brought down again . the same . a pound weight of gold of the said old standard was to make by tale sixty seven angels and an half at six shillings eight pence apiece , amounting to twenty two pounds ten shillings , and a pound weight of silver of the said old sterling was to make by tale one hundred and twelve groats and an half , amounting to thirty seven shillings and six pence , or proportionably in the lesser coins : and sir richard constable was master and worker . a pound weight of gold of the said old standard was to make by tale twenty pounds sixteen shillings and eight pence , and a pound weight of silver , old sterling , was to make thirty seven shillings and six pence , as in the last article : and william lord hastings was master and worker . a pound weight of gold of the old standard was to make fourty five nobles going for ten shillings apiece , or ninety half nobles , or one hundred and eighty quarter nobles , or sixty seven and an half of the pieces impress'd with angels going for six shillings eight pence each , and consequently was coined into twenty two pounds ten shillings by tale , and the silver moneys were shorn at thirty seven shillings and six pence the pound weight troy. this indenture was between the king and the lord hastings his chamberlain , and master and worker and warden of all his exchanges and outchanges in england and calis . the like . the like . the like . the like : but bartholomew read was master and worker . the like : and robert brackenbury was master and worker . the like : and robert fenrother and william read were masters and workers . a pound weight of such gold to be coined into twenty seven pounds by tale ; to wit , into twenty four sovereigns , at twenty two shillings and six pence apiece , or fourty eight rialls at eleven shillings and three pence apiece , or seventy two angels at seven shillings and six pence apiece , or eighty one george-nobles at six shillings and eight pence apiece , or one hundred fourty and four half-angels at three shillings and nine pence apiece , or one hundred sixty and two fourty-peny pieces , at three-shillings and four pence apiece ; and a pound weight of gold of the fineness of twenty two carats only , was to be coined into one hundred crowns and an half of the double rose , or two hundred and one half-crowns , making by tale twenty five pounds two shillings and six pence ; and a pound weight of silver of the old sterling , was coined into one hundred and thirty five groats , or two hundred and seventy half-groats , or five-hundred and fourty sterlings ( i. e. pence ) or one thousand and eighty half-pence , or two thousand one hundred and sixty farthings ; and so every pound weight of sterling silver was coined into fourty five shillings by tale : and ralph rowlett and martin bowes were masters and workers . the like . a pound weight of gold of twenty three carats fine , and one carat allay , was coined into twenty eight pounds sixteen shillings by tale ( by which indenture there were coined sovereigns at twenty shillings apiece , half-sovereigns at ten shillings , angels at eight shillings , angelets at four shillings , and quarter angelets at two shillings apiece ) and a pound weight of silver of ten ounces fine , and two ounces allay , was coined into fourty eight shillings by tale , namely , into testoons ( going for twelve pence apiece ) groats , half-groats , pence , half-pence and farthings . a pound weight of gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , was coined into thirty pounds by tale ; to wit , into thirty sovereigns at twenty shillings apiece , or sixty half-sovereigns at ten shillings apiece ; or one hundred and twenty crowns at five shillings apiece , or two hundred and fourty half-crowns : and the king had two carats of fine gold for coinage , which yielded him fifty shillings . and silver was coined by the same indenture of six ounces fine , and six ounces allay , into fourty eight shillings by tale. this silver was to be coined into testoons , groats , half-groats , pence , half-pence and farthings ; and the indenture was between the king and sir martin bowes , and others . a pound weight of gold of twenty carats fine , and four carats allay , was coined into thirty pounds by tale , as in the last ; and the king had four carats , which yielded him five pounds two shillings : and a pound weight of silver of four ounces fine , and eight ounces allay was coined into fourty eight shillings by tale , which raised the pound weight of fine gold to thirty six pounds ; and the pound weight of fine silver to seven pounds four shillings . a pound weight of gold of twenty carats fine , and four carats allay , was coined into thirty pounds by tale , out of which the king had a great profit ; and a pound of silver of four ounces fine , and eight ounces allay , was coined into fourty eight shillings ; after which rate every pound of fine silver made in currant money seven pounds four shillings , and the king's profit on every pound weight was four pounds four shillings : iohn york and others were masters and workers of the mint in southwark . another indenture to the same effect with william tilsworth at canterbury . another indenture to the same effect with sir martin bowes for the tower. another indenture to the same effect with george gale for the mint at york . another indenture to the same effect with iohn york for southwark , differing only in the charge of coinage . another indenture to the same effect with william tilsworth , differing only in the charge of coinage . a pound weight of gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , was to be coined into thirty four pounds by tale , into sovereigns at twenty shillings apiece , half-sovereigns at ten shillings apiece , crowns at five shillings , and half-crowns at two shillings six pence apiece : and a pound weight of silver of six ounces fine , and six ounces allay , was to be coined into seventy two shillings ; which shillings were to go for twelve pence apiece by tale , of which the merchant , for every pound weight of fine silver , received three pounds four shillings , and the king above four pounds gain , by a commission to sir edmund peckham and others . a pound weight of gold of the old standard , of twenty three carats , and three grains and a half fine , was coin'd into twenty eight pounds sixteen shillings by tale , to wit , into sovereigns at twenty four shillings apiece , half-sovereigns at twelve shillings apiece , angels at eight shillings apiece , and half-angels at four shillings apiece , by a commission to sir edmund peckham and others . a pound weight of silver of three ounces fine , and nine ounces allay , was coined into seventy two shillings at twelve pence apiece ; and the merchant received for every ounce of fine silver which he should bring to the mint , ten shillings of such money ; by which means twelve ounces of fine silver was exorbitantly raised to fourteen pounds eight shillings , by a commission to sir edmund peckham and others . a pound weight of gold , of the old standard aforesaid , was coined into thirty six pounds by tale , to wit , twenty four sovereigns at thirty shillings apiece , seventy two angels at ten shillings apiece , or one hundred fourty four half-angels : and a pound weight of crown gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , was coin'd into thirty three pounds by tale , viz. thirty three sovereigns at twenty shillings apiece , or sixty six half-sovereigns at ten shillings apiece , or one hundred thirty two crowns , or two hundred sixty four half-crowns : and a pound weight of silver , consisting of eleven ounces , one peny weight fine , and nineteen peny weight allay , was coin'd into three pounds by tale , viz. twelve crowns , or twenty four half-crowns , or sixty shillings , or one hundred twenty six-pences , or two hundred fourty three-pences or seven hundred twenty pence , or one thousand four hundred and fourty half-pence , or two thousand eight hundred and eighty farthings . a pound weight of gold , of the old standard , was coined into thirty six pounds ; and a pound weight of silver eleven ounces fine , was coined into three pounds by tale : and thomas egerton was master and worker . a pound weight of gold , of the old standard , of twenty three carats three grains and an half fine , was coined into thirty six pounds by tale ; to wit , into twenty four sovereigns at thirty shillings apiece , or forty eight rialls at fifteen shillings apiece , or seventy two angels at ten shillings apiece , or one hundred fourty and four half-angels at five shillings apiece : and a pound weight of crown gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , was coined into thirty three pounds by tale ( to wit , thirty three sovereigns at twenty shillings apiece , or sixty six half-sovereigns at ten shillings apiece , or one hundred thirty two crowns at five shillings apiece , or two hundred sixty four half-crowns . ) and a pound weight of the old sterling silver , to wit , eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay , was coined into three pounds by tale , of half-shillings , groats , quarter-shillings , half-groats , three-half-peny pieces , pence and farthings , by indenture between the queen , sir thomas standly and others . iohn lonison , master and worker , covenanted to coin a pound of gold of the old standard into seventy two angels at ten shillings apiece , one hundred fourty four half-angels at five shillings apiece , or two hundred eighty eight quarter-angels , amounting in tale to thirty six pounds ; and a pound weight of old sterling silver into half-shillings , three-pences , three-half-peny pieces , or three-farthing pieces , to make three pounds by tale. richard martin covenanted to coin gold , as in the last ; and a pound of silver into sixty shillings , or into three pounds by tale , in any of the denominations mentioned in the last indenture . a commission to him to coin the pound troy of old standard gold into fourty eight nobles at fifteen shillings apiece , or twenty four double nobles at thirty shillings apiece , making thirty six pounds . the same to coin the pound weight of gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay into thirty three sovereigns , at twenty shillings apiece , or sixty six half-sovereigns , or one hundred thirty two crowns , or two hundred sixty four half-crowns , making thirty three pounds by tale. the same to coin the pound weight of old standard gold into seventy three angels at ten shillings apiece , or one hundred fourty and six half-angels , or two hundred ninety two quarter angels , making thirty six pounds ten shillings in tale ; and the pound weight of gold , of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , into thirty three sovereigns and an half , at twenty shillings apiece , or sixty seven half-sovereigns , or one hundred thirty four crowns , or two hundred sixty eight half-crowns , making thirty three pounds ten shillings in tale ; and the pound weight of old standard silver into three pounds two shillings by tale ; namely , into crowns , half-crowns , shillings , six-pences , two-pences , pence and half-pence . sir richard martyn knight , and richard martyn his son , masters and workers , covenanted to coin a pound weight of gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , into thirty seven pounds four shillings by tale , viz. into unites going for twenty shillings , double-crowns at ten shillings , britain-crowns at five shillings , thistle-crowns at four shillings , and half-crowns at two shillings six-pence apiece ; and a pound weight of silver of the said old standard , into sixty two shillings by tale ; namely , into shillings , six-pences , two-pences , pence , half-pence , crowns and half-crowns . a pound weight of gold of the old standard of twenty three carats , three grains and an half fine , was coined into fourty pound ten shillings by tale ; to wit , into rose-rialls at thirty shillings apiece , spur-rialls at fifteen shillings , and angels at ten shillings apiece . there was a proclamation for raising gold two shillings in every twenty shillings . a pound weight of the old standard gold was to be coined into fourty four pounds by tale ; to wit , rose-rialls , spur-rialls , and angels ; and a pound weight of gold of twenty two carats fine , was coined into fourty pounds eighteen shillings and four pence ; to wit , into unites at twenty two shillings , double-crowns at eleven shillings , british-crowns at five shillings and six-pence , thistle-crowns at four shillings and four pence three farthings , or half british crowns at two shillings and nine pence apiece . a pound weight of gold , of the old standard of twenty three carats three grains and an half fine , and half a grain allay , was coined into fourty four pounds ten shillings by tale , to wit , into rose-rialls at thirty shillings apiece , spur-rialls at fifteen shillings apiece , or angels at ten shillings apiece ; and a pound weight of crown gold of twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , into fourty one pounds by tale , to wit , into unites at twenty shillings , double-crowns at ten shillings , or british-crowns at five shillings apiece ; and a pound of silver of the old standard of eleven ounces , two peny weight fine , into sixty two shillings by tale ; namely , into crowns , half-crowns , shillings , half-shillings , two-pences , pence and half-pence , by indenture between the king and sir robert harleigh . the like both for gold and silver moneys , by indenture between the king and sir ralph freeman . an indenture between the king and henry slingsby master and worker , to coin crown gold twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay into fourty four pounds ten shillings by tale ; to wit , into pieces to run for ten shillings , twenty shillings , fourty shillings , or five pounds apiece ; and a pound of silver of the old standard into three pounds two shillings by tale , to wit , into crowns , half-crowns , shillings , half-shillings , groats , half-six-pences , half-groats and pence . a pound weight of gold , twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , to be coined into fourty four pounds ten shillings by tale ; and a pound weight of silver of the old standard into sixty two shillings by tale , just as the preceding indenture : and thomas neale esq ; was master and worker . the like . by the careful observing of which deduction here made , from the indentures of the mint for above four hundred years past ( many of which are yet extant , and have been seen and examined by me ) it doth evidently appear , that it has been a policy constantly practised in the mints of england ( the like having indeed been done in all foreign mints belonging to other governments ) to raise the value of the coin in its extrinsick denomination , from time to time , as any exigence or occasion required ; and more especially to encourage the bringing of bullion into the realm to be coined ( though sometimes , when the desired end was obtained , the value has been suffered to fall again . ) so that in the whole number of years , from the twenty eighth of edward the first , until this time , by such variations the extrinsick value or denomination of the silver is raised in about a triple proportion ; that is to say , in the reign of the said king edward the first ( as is plain by this narrative ) a pound weight troy of sterling silver was shorn at twenty shillings and three pence , and consequently two hundred fourty three pence , or twenty shillings and one fourth of a shilling , or one pound and one eightieth part of a pound by tale , were then coin'd , out of the said pound weight troy : whereas at this day , and for about ninety years past , a pound weight troy of like silver , is and hath been coin'd into seven hundred fourty four pence , or sixty two shillings , or three pounds , and one tenth of a pound by tale , the pound weight troy having then and now the same weight and fineness . and as to the gold , i need only to observe from the foregoing deduction , that in the eighteenth of edward the first , a pound weight fine , twenty three carats , three grains and one half , was coin'd into fifteen pounds by tale : whereas at this day a pound weight of gold , of the fineness only of twenty two carats , is coin'd into fourty four pounds ten shillings . and this method of raising the extrinsick value of the gold and silver , in the denominations of the coins , as it hath been constant almost in the reign of every king , so no inconvenience , disgrace or mischief ( as can be observed ) has ever accrued by the doing thereof at any time , when a just , necessary or reasonable cause gave occasion thereunto . the which being premised , and every project for debasing the money ( by the reason before given ) being rejected as dangerous , dishonourable and needless : it remains that our nation in its present exigence , may avail it self , by raising the value of its coins , and this may be effected , either by making the respective pieces called crowns , half-crowns , shillings , &c. to be lesser in weight , or by continuing the same weight or bigness , which is at present in the unclipt moneys , and ordaining at the same time , that every such piece shall be currant at a higher price in tale. but before i proceed to give my opinion upon this subject , it seems necessary for me to assert and prove an hypothesis , which is this , namely , that making the pieces less , or ordaining the respective pieces ( of the present weight ) to be currant at a higher rate , may equally raise the value of the silver in our coins . the former of these finds many precedents in the indentures above recited , but the latter seems more suitable to our present circumstances , as will afterwards be shewed more at large . this hypothesis or theorem is easily demonstrated thus , let it be granted , that a crown piece by the present standard contains in sterling silver ( as it really doth ) nineteen peny weight , and 354838 / 1000000 parts of a peny weight : or ( which is the same thing ) nineteen peny weight eight grains and an half , and a very small fractional part more , going at this time for five shillings , or sixty pence . and let it be supposed ( which is practicable , and the thing aimed at ) that this very crown piece be ordained to pass for six shillings and three pence , or ( which is equal ) seventy five pence . then i say by inverse proportion , as seventy five pence are to sixty pence , so sixty will be to fourty eight pence , which are equal to four shillings . from whence i infer , that if the extrinsick value of the silver now in a crown were to be rais'd to six shillings and three pence ( by diminishing the weight of the piece according to former precedents ) then such diminitive crown must weight only four fifths of the said 19.354838 / 1000000 peny weight , that is to say , it must weigh fifteen peny weight , and 4833704 / 10000000 parts of a peny weight , and in this case five three pences to be coin'd in the same proportion , to compleat the rais'd value of six shillings and three pence , must weigh one fourth part of the diminitive crown , as in the margin . again ( by direct proportion ) if 15.4838704 peny weight of sterling silver is to go or be currant for five shillings , of sixty pence , then 19.354838 peny weight of sterling silver ( which is the quantity in an unclipt crown by the present standard , and equal to the sum or aggregate of the other two quantities ) ought to go and be currant for six shillings and three pence , or seventy five pence , and consequently will raise the extrinsick value of the silver , as much as diminishing the pieces would do ; which was to be demonstrated . and now ( having cleared my way ) i humbly take leave to offer my opinion , that all such silver moneys as are after enumerated of the lawful coins of this realm of england , which are now in being , and are not at all diminished by clipping , rounding , filing , washing , or any other artifice , be rais'd by publick authority to the foot of six shillings and three pence for the crown , and proportionably for the other species , namely , the crown to go for seventy five pence , the half-crown to go for thirty seven pence and an half-peny , the shilling for fifteen pence , and the half-shilling for seven pence half-peny , leaving all the other old vnclipt pieces , as the thirteen pence half-peny , the nine pence , the groat , two pence , &c. which are very few in number , and much worn , to go upon their present foot , and to find their values in pence , and parts of a peny , as they do at this day . and that the new coins to be made , either of the clipt money , as it shall be brought in , or of any other sterling silver , be made , in their respective weights or bigness , by the present indenture of the mint , that is to say , one piece which may be called the sceptre , or the silver-unite , or by such other name as his majesty shall appoint , and to be exactly of the weight and fineness of the present vnclipt crown piece , but to run for seventy five pence sterling ; of which pieces so made , there shall be twelve , and two fifths of such piece in a pound weight troy ; and three of the said pieces called sceptres or unites , or by such other name , as aforesaid , together with a fifteen peny piece , after mentioned , shall make by tale one pound sterling , or one pound of lawful money of england , in all accounts and lawful payments whatsoever . another piece which may be called the half-sceptre or half-unite , or by such other name as his majesty shall appoint , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to a present vnclipt half-crown , but to run for thirty seven pence and an half-peny sterling ; of which pieces last mentioned , there shall be twenty four , and four fifths of such a piece in a pound weight troy ; and six of the said pieces called half-sceptres or half-unites , or by such other name as his majesty shall appoint , together with one fifteen peny piece aftermentioned , shall make by tale one pound sterling , or one pound of lawful english money , in all accounts and legal payments whatsoever . one other piece which may be called the testoon , or fifteen peny piece , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to a present vnclipt shilling , but to run for fifteen pence sterling , of which there shall be sixty two in a pound weight troy , and sixteen of the said pieces called testoons , or fifteen peny pieces , shall make in tale one pound sterling , or one pound of lawful english money ; or ten of these testoons , together with two such grosses or groats , as are after mentioned , will make a mark sterling , or five of them , and one such gross or groat , will make a noble , which the law used to call the hauf merk , or eight of them will make the angel , or four of them will make the crown , or two of them will make the half-crown : and they may be proportionably varied , many other ways in all accounts , reckonings and legal payments whatsoever . one other piece , which may be called the half-testoon , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to the half-shilling by the present standard , but to run for seven pence half-peny sterling , of which there shall be one hundred twenty four in the pound weight troy ; and thirty two of the said pieces to be called half-testoons , shall make in tale one pound sterling ; or twenty of these , with two of the grosses or groats , will make a mark in tale ; or ten of these half-testoons , with one gross , will make a noble ; or eight of the said half-testoons will make a crown by tale ; or five of them with a half-groat , will make the half-noble , or three shillings and four-pence by tale , or four of the said half-testoons , will make an half-crown ; or thirty two of them will make twenty shillings by tale , or sixteen of them will make ten shillings by tale ; or eight of them will make five shillings by tale ; and they may many other ways be proportionably varied in all accounts , reckonings and legal payments whatsoever , one other piece which may be called the gross or five-peny piece , to be equal in weight and fineness to a groat by the present standard , but to run for five pence sterling , of which there shall be one hundred eighty six in the pound weight troy ; and fourty eight of the said grosses or five-peny pieces , will make in tale one pound sterling ; or a proportionable number of them in many cases ( too tedious here to enumerate ) will answer to the said denominations of pounds , marks , half-marks , quarter-marks , angels , crowns , half-crowns , shillings and pence used in accounts , or in acts of parliament , records , or other legal instruments , which are absolutely necessary to be continued . one other piece which may be called the quarter-testoon , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to a three peny piece by the present standard , but to run for three pence three farthings sterling , of which there shall be two hundred fourty eight in a pound weight troy , and sixty four of these quarter-testoons will make in tale one pound sterling , or a proportionable number of them will answer in a greater number of cases to the said denominations used in accounts , or in the laws of england . one other piece which may be called the half-groat or half-gross , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to a two peny piece by the present standard , but to run for two pence half-peny sterling , of which there shall be three hundred seventy two in a pound weight troy , and ninety six of the said half-groats will make in tale one pound sterling , or a proportionable number of them will answer , in most cases , to the said denominations used in accounts , or in the laws of england . and one other piece which may be called the prime , which shall be equal in weight and fineness to a present standard peny , but to run for five farthings , or for one peny , and the fourth part of a peny sterling , of which there shall be seven hundred fourty and four in a pound weight troy ; and one hundred ninety and two of the said primes will make in tale one pound sterling , on a proportionable number of them ( the combinations whereof are almost infinite ) will answer almost in all cases to the said denominations used in accounts , or in the laws of england . and because it may be convenient to have the denomination of shillings continued , let there be added one piece to be called the shilling , or twelve peny piece , to be equal in fineness , though not in weight , to any standard money now in being , to run for twelve pence sterling , ( which will be a fifth part less in weight then the present shilling ) of these there shall be seventy seven and an half in a pound weight troy , and twenty of them will make a pound by tale , whereby every pound weight troy of the silver moneys aforesaid , will be and hold in number and tale , and in the value will be rais'd from three pounds two shillings , to three pounds seventeen shillings and six pence sterling , by the pound troy : and my reasons for this opinion are as follows : first , the value of the silver in the coin ought to be raised to the foot of six shillings three pence in every crown , because the price of standard silver in bullion is risen ( from divers necessary and unnecessary causes , producing at great length a great scarcity thereof in england ) to six shilings five pence an ounce : this reason ( which i humbly conceive will appear irrefragable ) is grounded chiefly upon a truth so apparent , that it may well be compared to an axiom even in mathematical reasoning , to wit , that whensoever the extrinsick value of silver in the coin hath been , or shall be less than the price of silver in bullion , the coin hath been , and will be melted down . although the melting down of coin , for private lucre , be done in secret ( because 't is punishable by * law ) yet no man can doubt but that it has been practised for a long time past , to such a degree , upon the weighty money , as that in particular , the crowns and half-crowns of edward the sixth and queen elizabeth are quite vanished : those of king james the first are become very rare : those of king charles the first ( though the most numerous of all that remain ) are in great measure reduced , and will appear to be so the more plainly , when they come to be distinguished from the counterfeits , which are mostly contrived to resemble these : the crowns , half-crowns , and indeed the lesser coins of king charles the second ( the far greatest part whereof were milled money ) in all payments at the exchequer , and other publick offices , do not , by estimation , exceed the proportion of ten shillings per cent. or a two hundredth part. and if this wicked fact of melting down has been notoriously committed , at times when there was no great difference betwen the value of the silver in the coin and that in the bullion ; or when the goldsmiths and other artificers could make no other profit thereby , than the finall over-weight , which ( by weighing and culling the pieces coin'd at the tower ) they found to be in some of them , which being molten , might be carried back to the mint , and there re-coin'd at the king's charge into a greater number by tale for their own use : then one may easily conclude , that the temptation of melting down , is grown of late much more prevalent ; since , at this day , standard silver in bullion is commonly sold at the said price of six shillings and five pence , or for seventy seven pence an ounce . and in regard twenty peny weight ( equal to an ounce ) bears the same proportion to seventy seven pence as nineteen peny weight , and 〈…〉 8●8 / 100 000 of one peny weight ( equal to the standard silver contained in a crown piece ) doth to six shillings and two pence half-peny ; it is most plain , that he now melts down ( for instance ) a crown piece , which whilst it retains the image and superscription of his majesty , or either of the late king 's runs only for five shillings , can immediately sell the silver of it here for six shillings and two pence half-peny , and gain the sum of fourteen pence half-peny upon every such melted piece , by such sale of the silver here , or ( by reason of the great loss which this nation at present suffers in its foreign exchange or remittances ) he may make a greater profit of the same silver , by exporting it into foreign parts , if he can effect the same , either by stealth , or by eluding the late act of parliament , prohibiting such exportation . one may also foresee , that continuing the silver moneys ( either old or new coins ) upon the present foot , whilst bullion is so much dearer , will inevitably produce consequences pernicious to the whole ; in effect it will be nothing else but the furnishing offenders with a species to melt down at an extravagant profit , and encouraging not a necessary , but a violent and exorbitant exportation of our silver to the foreign parts , for the sake of the gain only , till we shall have little or none left in the kingdom . and upon an impartial consideration of these matters , we may be able to make a more mature judgment upon the suggestion that has been raised by some men , namely , that raising the value of our coin , or continuing it on the present foot will be the same thing . if these gentlemen mean , that silver in bullion will always , during this war , be dearer than silver in coin , because of the necessity to export it for the foreign expence of the war , and to answer the ballance of trade , occasioned by the interruption of our navigation , i answer , first , that this necessity may be diminished ; but it cannot in any sence be augmented , by raising the value of our coin. secondly , that supposing the worst , to wit , a further advance of the silver in bullion , yet even in that case , the offenders before mentioned will not find so much incouragement or temptation , when their profit , whatsoever it be , upon every raised crown , must evidently be less by fourteen pence half-peny than it is at present , upon a crown running in payment for five shillings only . thirdly , it is hoped that the exchange to holland , ( which by the way has risen a little of late ) may by the success of some good designs now on foot ( though the war should continue ) be kept at a stand , at least from falling much lower . in which case i think the arguments of these gentlemen will have little or no weight . fourthly , there must be a great difference with regard to the service and disservice of the publick , between a necessary exportation of bullion or coin , ( perhaps the one may be as well disspensed with as the other , by publick authority , and to a limited sum ; only for the service of the war ) and such an exportation thereof , as proceeds originally from the said exorbitant profit of the melters , who being goldsmiths , refiners , or other traders , and by this means , and by the clippings , getting great quantities of molten silver into their hands , know well enough ( though by unlawful or indirect means ) to convey the same beyond sea , either to buy gold there , which is afterwards brought hither and coin'd into guineas , passing at thirty shillings apiece ; or to buy prohibited goods , as lace , lustrings , muslins , divers east-india goods , or other enumerated commodities , or for other purposes , which , though unlawful or needless , do all help or combine , at this time , to augment and inhance that ballance of trade between us and our neighbours , very much to our detriment , as will be shew'd hereafter . fifthly , these gentlemen consider only the use of our coin in england , as it hath relation to foreign exchanges or remittances , whereas it serves principally the inland commerce , and supplies many other occasions , which will be advantaged by the rise and plenty thereof . and whereas it is apprehended that the proposed advance of the silver in the coin , will produce a proportionable loss in all rents and revenues , publick or private , settled or ascertained by antecedent reservations , grants or agreements , and in all debts now standing out upon specialty , or without specialty : i humbly conceive these apprehensions must entirely vanish , when it shall be impartially considered , that this nation is , and hath been for some time past , ingaged in a necessary war , which hath not only caused a great expence of our wealth in foreign parts of europe , but hath interrupted the navigation , which used to supply us from east and west indies , and from other parts of asia , africa and america , with much greater quantities of goods than served our own consumption , and consequently afforded us a large overplus , which , together with our own native product or manufacture , were exported to our neighbour nations , in barter or exchange for the goods we received of them . that reckoning on the one side the value of the naval stores , linens , silks , salt-petre , and many other enumerated commodities , which we receive from our neighbours , and adding thereunto our foreign expence for the war : and on the other side the value of so much of our native manufactures , or produce , and the small overplus of goods brought from the east and west indies , &c. as we have lately exported , or can export into our neighbour nations of europe , there would appear a great difference or excess between the one side and the other of such account or reckoning ; which difference or excess is or may be called the ballance of trade . that it cannot be conceived how this ballance , difference , or excess hath been or can be answered by us in any thing other than our coin or bullion . that to answer this ballance of trade , there hath been already exported a great part of our coins and bullion , namely , clippings , which i think must have been equal in value to at least a fourth part of our whole species of silver moneys , the molten silver of a good part of our heavy coins , part of our heavy coins themselves , our whole stock of foreign silver , for i am told there is little or none of that to be bought in england at this time , and the molten silver of a great deal of our english plate and vessels , which people have been induced to part with at a good price . that by this means silver in coin or in mass is actually grown very scarce in england . that every thing having any value or worth whatsoever , when it becomes scarce grows dear , or ( which is the same thing ) it riseth in price , and consequently it will serve to pay more debt , or it will buy greater quantities of other goods of value , or in any thing else it will go further than it did before . that silver in england being grown scarce , as aforesaid , is consequently grown dearer . that it is risen in price from five shillings and two pence , to six shillings and five pence an ounce : and by daily experience nineteen peny weight and three tenths of a peny weight in sterling silver ( equal to the weight of a crown piece ) in england , doth , and will purchase more coined money than five shillings by tale , ( though the latter be delivered bona fide in unclipt shillings , or in a good bill ) and consequently doth and will purchase and acquire more goods or necessaries , or pay more debts in england , or ( being delivered here ) it fetches more money in any foreign parts by way of exchange , than five shillings by tale , or the sixth part of a guinea by tale , or goods to the value of five shillings in tale only , do or can fetch , purchase or acquire . that this advanced price of the silver has been growing for some time , and is originally caused by the ballance , excess or difference abovementioned , which naturally and rationally produces such an effect . and there is no reason to expect that silver will decline in its price or value here , till it be made more plentiful , by turning the ballance of trade to our advantage , which seems to be a work that can be accomplished with success in times of peace , or by such a protection of our trade , as will render our exportations as large as they used to be in times of peace . that the raising the value of the silver in our coins to make it equal to silver in mass , can in no sence be understood to be a cause of making silver scarce . that there can never be propos'd any just or reasonable foot upon which the coins should be currant , save only the very price of the silver thereof , in case it be molten in the same place where the coins are made currant , or an extrinsick denomination very near that price : it being most evident , that if the value of the silver in the coins should ( by any extrinsick denomination ) be raised above the value , or market price of the same silver , reduced to bullion , the subject would be proportionably injured and defrauded , as they were formerly in the case of the base moneys coin'd by publick authority , but if the value of the silver in the coins be less than the value or market price of the same silver reduced to bullion , then the coins are always melted down for luore , as they have been , and are at this day in the case of the unclipt moneys , and as they will certainly be , in case of any new coins that shall be made , to be currant upon the old foot of sixty pence for the silver of a crown piece ; which sufficiently proves , that the medium propos'd is the true foundation for the course of our moneys . that for this purpose we need only to consider the very price that silver bears in england , where these coins are to be currant , although if we will have relation to neighbouring countreys , particularly to holland , we shall find that the currant price of an ounce of silver there , adding thereunto the difference of exchange from london to amsterdam or roterdam ( which difference in the exchange , is but another effect of the ballance of trade before-mentioned ) will still make up the price of six shillings and five pence for the ounce of silver at london . and if this were not so , your lordships might be sure that no body would buy silver at london for six shillings and five pence an ounce , carry it to holland , and sell it there perhaps for five shillings and five pence an ounce , or for so much in their coins , the silver whereof is not equal to five shillings and five pence by our standard . that it ought not to be alledged that silver has no price ; for every indenture of the mint ( having first ascertain'd the extrinsick denomination of the currant coins ) has taken care also to determine the price or value of the silver to the merchant or importer , which was to be answered in those extrinsick denominations ; and daily experience shews every man , in buying or selling of silver , that it has a price or value still reckoned in those extrinsick denominations , although at present it much exceeds , as aforesaid , the said rate of sixty two shillings for a pound troy. that five shillings coin'd upon the foot hereby proposed , will actually contain more real and intrinsick value of silver by a great deal , than is in the currant moneys now commonly applied to the payment of the said rents , revenues and debts , upon which the imaginary loss is apprehended , and in reason will and ought to go further to all intents and purposes , than five shillings in clipt moneys , or in the sixth part of a guinea , doth or can go ; which will be better understood , when the mischiefs of these clipt moneys and guineas come to be explain'd in the third chapter . and lastly , that as the foot or foundation hereby proposed , for the course of the moneys , will be just and reasonable , with regard to the price of silver , and more advantagious to the receivers thereof , than payment in clipt moneys or gold at the present price ; so every person that shall receive any money coin'd or made currant upon this new foot , will have the payment , issuing and expenditure thereof at the same rate . and it is freely submitted to impartial judgments , whether the propos'd advance of silver in the coins can infer a real loss upon any persons , other than such as can propose to themselves particularly the receipt of moneys in weighty or unclipt pieces only , and the conversion thereof to an advantage , which law or reason would not allow them . secondly , the value of the silver in the coin ought to be raised , to encourage the bringing of bullion to the mint to be coin'd . it is a matter of fact well known to your lordships , and ( by the small number of the pieces of the present king , or of his majesty and the deceas'd queen ) it is perceivable by every body else , that since bullion hath born a greater price than silver in the coin , there has been none brought to the mint to be coin'd , either by importers or others , unless some small parcels , that were seiz'd or sent thither by publick authority . and it is utterly against reason for any man to think , that any bullion of silver will be carried thither voluntarily to be coin'd , till the value of silver coin'd be raised , at least as high as the value of silver in bullion . by the propos'd advance to six shillings and three pence , the sterling silver in the coins will be set at six shillings and five pence half-peny per ounce , which will exceed the present price of sterling in bullion by one half-peny per ounce , and give ( though by a small profit ) an encouragement to those that have english silver or plate , and particularly to the retailers of wine , beer , ale and other liquors , ( whose tankards and other vessels are herein after propos'd to be brought in ) and generally to all those that have or can have silver imported , to carry the same to the mint to be coin'd . and this will be agreeable to the policy that in past ages ( as hath been observed upon the aforesaid deduction ) hath been practised not only in our mint , but in the mints of all politick governments , namely , to raise the value of silver in the coin , to promote the work of the mint . thirdly , the raising the value of the silver in the coin , will increase the whole species in tale , and thereby make it more commensurate to the general need thereof , for carrying on the common traffick and commerce of the nation , and to answer the payments on the numerous contracts , securities , and other daily occasions , requiring a larger supply of money for that purpose . this reason may be farther illustrated , by considering that the want of a sufficient stock of money , hath been the chief cause of introducing so much paper credit ( which is at best hazardous , and may be carried too far ) and the setting up of offices , both in city and country , for bartering of goods or permutations . fourthly , the silver in the old unclipt moneys , and in the new coins now propos'd to be made , ought to be raised ( as i have offered ) equally , to avoid confusion and uncertainty in payments : for if pieces , having the same bigness , should have different values , it might be difficult for the common people ( especially those not skilled in arithmetick ) to compute how many of one kind will be equal to the sum of another ; and there might be some dispute about the lawful money of england , to be paid upon mortgages , bonds , contracts , or other legal securities referring thereunto . fifthly , the foot of six shillings and three pence for the crown , here propos'd , will not only be suitable to the present rate of bullion , but it happens to be such a sum as is deviseable into a great number of aliquot or other integral parts , to serve for the lesser coins before propos'd , so that none of them will come forth in any fractional part of a farthing , which will obviate much perplexity amongst the common people : and i think there is scarce any other sum near it that is deviseable in like manner . sixthly , by this project , all computations in pounds , shillings and pence , used in accounts ; and the reckonings by pounds , marks , half-marks , shillings and pence , practised in the law of england , and in the records , contracts and other instruments , relating thereunto , will be preserved as they ought to be . seventhly , by this method , the bringing in of the present unclipt coins , to be cut into lesser pieces , are rendered needless ; which species being at present ( for the most part ) hoarded , will , upon raising their value , come forth , and go a great way towards supplying the commerce and other occasions , whilst the new money is making . and i think it will be granted to be utterly impossible , in this time of war , to re-coin the clipt moneys , if at the same time the unclipt shall be brought in to be new cut ; or if the unclipt pieces should not ( by such an encouragement ) be brought forth to supply the commerce , pay taxes , and serve other occasions in the mean time . eighthly , it is difficult to conceive , how any design of amending the clipt moneys can be compassed , without raising the value of the silver remaining in them , because of the great deficiency of the silver clipt away ; which ( upon re-coining ) must necessarily be defrayed or born one way or other . ninthly , as our unclipt moneys , and the new coins here propos'd to be made , will , by the former proposition , retain the ancient sterling , or old right standard of the mint for fineness and purity ( the alteration of which could never be justified by any necessity ; ) so by this proposition they will both continue the present standard of the mint in the weight or bigness of the respective pieces , without being cut into less , as they have formerly been ( the new shilling only excepted : ) these propositions indeed , dealing with nothing but the very value of the silver in the coins , to make it equal to the currant price of our own bullion or silver in mass , with a very little excess , to wit , of an half-peny in an ounce , to encourage the coinage , and to make it bear the like reason or proportion to the price of foreign moneys now currant amongst us ; namely , the pillar dollars , which go at seven shillings and a peny per ounce , and sevil and mexico dollars at seven shillings per ounce , and to effect an equality in all pieces , having the same extrinsick denomination , and thereby to cure such mischiefs relating to our coin , as are not to be parallel'd in the records of former ages : which raised values may be lowered again by the wisdom and authority of parliament , when the wealth of the nation shall ( by gods blessing ) be re-establisht without trouble or charge of re-coining or cutting the silver pieces into other sizes . as to the gold coins which are now almost wholly reduced or converted into the pieces called guineas and half-guineas , they were first coin'd by king charles the second , not long after the restauration ; and were ordained to go at the rates of twenty shillings for the guinea , and ten shillings for the half-guinea ; but i do not remember that they ever passed at so little , as the prices which were then set upon them because our nation has been always too apt to over-value its gold. and at this time the guinea runs for thirty shillings , although the gold of it ( if it were carried to spain , italy , barbary , and some other places of the world ) would not purchase so much silver there , as is equal to the standard of four of our crowns , or twenty shillings . and here it is necessary for me to observe , that if the gold had advanced proportionably with the silver , then because as five shillings ( the standard value of the silver in a crown ) is to six shillings and two pence halfpeny , the present value of the same silver in mass , so twenty shillings ( the standard value of the gold in guinea ) is to twenty four shillings and ten pence ; it should follow by reason that a guinea at this day should go for about twenty four shillings and ten pence , but it apparently runs for about five shillings more , so that in the time that the silver in a crown is risen about a fifth part , the gold in a guinea is risen in a much greater proportion , namely , a compleat third part . which advance of five shillings in a guinea ( over and above the proportionable rise which it should have had to make it keep pace with the silver ) is exceedingly detrimental to our nation at this day ( as will be hereafter shewed more at large . ) and seeing it can be attributed to nothing but the present badness of our silver coins , which are so exceedingly counterfeited , and clipt , that the common people will take guineas almost at any rate , rather than stand the hazard and vexation of such silver moneys as are now currant amongst them : i am therefore humbly of opinion , that altering the present standard of our gold coins ( which prescribes twenty two carats fine , and two carats allay , and that fourty four guineas and an half shall be cut from a pound weight of such gold ) would avail nothing . and that the only remedy to fix these gold coins upon a right foot , will be the re-establishment of the silver coins , which ( as soon as atchieved according to these propositions ) will in all likelihood and probability , presently reduce the guineas to about twenty five shillings apiece by the most natural and easie way , without fixing any limited price thereupon by publick authority , which ( if one were to judge by past experience ) would never be observed , at least for any time . a corollary : the abovementioned ballance of trade being ( as is before observed ) the original cause of the scarcity of silver in england , and of the loss by the foreign exchange or remittances , he that can propose any proper expedients , either to lessen that ballance , or convert it to our advantage , ought to be well heard . but any proposal which supposes the ballance of trade must be rectified before our coins be amended , or a reasonable foundation can be fixed for the course of the same , does but postpone the cure of a disease which may destroy us before such a remedy can take effect . the true and reasonable adjustment of that which is called by the french , pied de monoye , and by others anciently pes monetae , was and is of principal consideration in this whole affair : and therefore i hope your lordships will excuse me for having been so prolix in the subject of the standards . the second general head concerning the present state and condition of the gold and silver coins . it cannot be thought improper before the enterprizing of a work of so great importance as the re-establishment of the moneys , and determining a new foot for the course of the same , to be instructed ( with as much certainty as is possible in things of this nature ) in the present state , plight , or condition of the coins of this realm ; wherein one must necessarily consider several matters of fact , whereof some can be known or found out , and others can only be estimated or guessed at . i have endeavoured , as much as i could in a little time , to inform and satisfie my self in the particulars following : first , the several forms or fashions which have been used in the fabrication of the moneys , and which of them have been and are most likely to be most secure against clipping and counterfeiting . secondly , the quantities of silver coins clipt and unclipt , that may be reasonably thought or imagined to remain in the kingdom at this day . thirdly , how far the clipt pieces now in being may be conjectured to have been diminished in their weight . and upon consideration of these articles , i have endeavoured to compute the loss , which ( upon re-coining the clipt moneys ) must be born either by a publick aid , or by particular persons , or by both ; and to make such other remarks and inferences as may be suitable to the present occasion : in all which , my sence and opinion are humbly presented to your lordships in the manner following . as to the particulars ; all the moneys we have now in england , both gold and silver , are reducible to two sorts ; the one stampt with the hammer , and the other prest with an engine , called the mill. the gold or silver of the hammer'd money is first cast from the melting pot into long bars , those bars are cut with sheers into several square pieces of exact weights , for sovereigns , angels , crowns , half-crowns , shillings , &c. then with the tongs and hammer they are forged into a round shape ; after which they are blanched ( that is , made white , or refulgent by nealing or boiling ) and afterwards stampt or impress'd with an hammer to make them perfect money . this method of making money with the hammer ( as appears in the said red book ) was practised in the reign of king edward the first ; who ( amongst other great archievements of his most prudent government ) left that of restoring and establishing good moneys for the use of his people , to recommend his name to subsequent generations . he sent for mr. william de turnemire , and his brother peter , and others from marseilles , and one friscobald , and his companions from florence , and employed them in the working this kind of money , and the buying and exchanging of silver for that purpose , for which he had thirty furnaces at london , eight at canterbury ( besides three the arch-bishop had there ) twelve at bristol , twelve at york , and more in other great towns , in all which places they made the said hammer'd money of silver , supply'd by the kings changers established at the same places , who ( according to certain rates or prices prescribed to them ) took in the clipt , rounded and counterfeit moneys to be re-coined , and bought gold and silver of the merchants , and others , to be fabricated into new money ; at the same time ordaining , quod proclametur per totum regnum quod nulla fiat tonsura de nova moneta sub periculo vitae & membrorum & amissionis omnium terrarum & tenementorum , &c. and this kind of hammer'd money continued through all the reigns of succeeding kings and queens , till about the year of our lord , 1663. when by several warrants , and command of king charles the second , to wit , by one warrant dated the fifth of november , 1662. one warrant dated the eighth of april , 1663. and a third warrant dated the twenty fourth of december , 1663. the other sort called milled money was first fabricated to be currant in england in this manner : first , the gold or silver is cast out of the melting pot into long flat bars , which bars are drawn thorough a mill ( wrought by a horse ) to produce the just thickness of guineas , half-guineas , crowns , half-crowns , shillings , &c. then with forcible engines , called cutters , which answer exactly to the respective sizes or dimensions of the money to be made , the round pieces are cut out from the flat bar , shaped as aforesaid ( the residue whereof , called sizel , is melted again ) and then every piece is weighed , and made to agree exactly with the intended weight , and afterwards carried to other engines ( wrought secretly ) which put the letters upon the edges of the larger silver pieces , and mark the edges of the rest with a graining . the next thing is the blanching perform'd , as above ; and at last , every piece is brought to the press , which is called the mill ( wrought by the strength of men ) and there receives the impression , which makes it perfect milled money . by duly reflecting upon these different kinds , and considering that the principal offences against the coins of the realm , have been , and are either clipping , counterfeiting or melting down , it may be proper to remark , first , that the crime of clipping has been practised upon the hammer'd money in all ages more or less , but most exorbitantly of late years ; notwithstanding the many examples of justice : for that the offenders make an excessive profit by doing a thing so easie in it self , that even women and children ( as well as men ) are capable of the act of clipping or rounding . but this practice of clipping has never been exercis'd upon the mill'd money , and i think never can be , because of its thickness and edging , although no further provision against the same should be made by law. secondly , that as to counterfeiting , the hammer'd money is liable thereunto , because the tools for resembling the same , are cheap , and easily made and procured , and the fabrication thereof may be performed in a little room , and with less art ; so that smiths and other artificers can readily attain thereunto . but the engines for the mill'd money are many and very costly , not easie to be procured . the makers or users of such engines cannot be conceal'd without great difficulty , and the mill'd money it self , being of a much finer print than the other , requires more solemnity , skill , and curious workmanship in its fabrication ; and when it 's finished , shews better the true colour of the silver , to distinguish its genuine from its counterfeit pieces : which latter could never be brought to perfection . so that reckoning only since the said year 1663. ( without any regard to the precedent time ) i verily believe for every single piece of mill'd money , that has been counterfeited , or rather been attempted to be resembled , there have been more than one thousand of the hammer'd moneys not only counterfeited , but actually impos'd upon the people , who have been defrauded therewith , and are now likely to suffer greatly thereby . thirdly , that as to the crime of melting down , it has plainly affected both the hammer'd and mill'd moneys in their respective turns very fatally ; insomuch that the hammer'd gold coins which were made in the reigns of the several kings and queens , from edward the first inclusively , till the beginning of the reign of king charles the second ( which would amount to an incredible sum , if they were all in being ) are almost totally vanished , having been molten ( as i suppose ) from time to time , either to make vessels or utensils , or to export for lucre , or to convert into gold coins of more modern stamps ( in which last case the same metal came to be coin'd over and over again ) it being evident that we have now in england only the pieces called guineas , and half-guineas , or few other of gold coins , as is before observed . and i think the like must have been done with all the hammer'd silver moneys that were made before the reign of queen elizabeth , a very few only excepted ; although the latter would amount to many millions , if they were all now in being . as to the coins of that queen , and her two immediate successors ( though they make the bulk of our present cash ) the number of them must needs have been extreamly diminished by melting , especially whilst they were weighty , and not much worn . but since the mill'd money came into play , because of its intrinsick weight and worth , i believe the crime of melting hath been chiefly practis'd upon that kind , which has apparently reduced it to a small quantity . nevertheless , when both kinds come to have the same weight and fineness , and to be currant at the same price , i think the one will not be more liable to this mischief than the other ; and i hope both will be secured against the same , when the silver in the coin will fetch as much as the silver in the bullion . secondly , the quantities of silver coins clipt and vnclipt that may be reasonably thought or imagined to remain in the kingdom at this day , cannot with any certainty be computed . i know several conjectures have been made thereof , very different , and ( as i think ) without any grounds at all , and i confess my self to have none but such as follow . first , to compute all the silver moneys coin'd in the three reigns of queen elizabeth , iames the first , and charles the first . secondly , to guess how much thereof may have been molten or lost. thirdly , to substract the latter from the whole . and , fourthly , to the difference to add something for the small remainder , as well of moneys coined before the reign of queen elizabeth , as of those coined since the reign of charles the first . the silver moneys coin'd in the reign of queen elizabeth ( as i am inform'd by the master of the mint ) did amount to four millions six hundred thousand pounds : but by a copy which i took some time since from the archives at westminster , of an account which was compiled by arch-bishop williams , which i take to be more exact ( which archives , with the choice collections thereof are since burnt ) all the silver sterling moneys coin'd in the reign of the said queen , ( excluding some base irish moneys that were then made ) did amount to — l. s. d. 4632932. 3. 2 ¾ the silver moneys coin'd in the reign of king iames the first ( as the officers of the mint inform me ) cannot be known at their office , because their memorials thereof are either imperfect or lost : but by the abovesaid copy i find , that in the first twelve years of his reign there was coin'd in silver sterling moneys , one million five hundred fifty eight thousand and fourteen pounds , nine shillings and nine pence ; and i find , that in the last seven years of his reign , the silver moneys coin'd did amount to one hundred and two thousand nine hundred and eighty one pounds nine shillings and eight pence , and then adding 39004 l. o s. 7 d. by estimation for the two or three intermediate years of the same reign , the whole of the silver sterling money coin'd by king iames the first , was — l. 1700000. and it appears by an account from the officers of the mint , that there was coin'd of silver moneys in the reign of king charles the first l. s. d. 8776544. 10. 3. l. s. d. in all 15109476. 13. 5¾ now considering how far this sum is to be abated . first , by the want of the crowns , half-crowns , groats , quarter-shillings , half-groats , three-half-peny pieces , three-farthing pieces , and half-pence of queen elizabeth , which are wholly sunk . secondly , by the diminution of the number of the shillings , and six-pences of the same queen , many of which may be supposed to be melted down , re-coined , or lost. thirdly , by the loss of the crowns , groats , two-pences , pence , and half-pence of iames the first , and charles the first , which seem to be quite gone , and by the melting , re-coining , or loss of many ( if not most ) of the half-crowns , shillings , and six-pences of those two kings , one can hardly believe there is now in being , of the coins of the said three reigns , above one third part , which amounts to five millions thirty six thousand four hundred ninety two pounds ; to which if there be added five hundred sixty three thousand five hundred and eight pounds more , for the unmelted silver coins of charles the second , iames the second , king william and queen mary , and for the small quantities which remain of those which were made before the reign of queen elizabeth ; then the whole of the silver sterling coins clipt and unclipt , hoarded and currant now in england , will be computed at five millions and six hundred thousand pounds . and if it be granted that four millions of this sum consists of pieces that are diminished , some more , some less , by clipping , then it will follow , that there remains in the kingdom about one million , and six hundred thousand pounds of heavy money , a great part of which is supposed to lie in hoards , and the rest currant chiefly in the counties most remote from london . thirdly , i am to compute , as well as i can , how far the clipt pieces , now in being , may have been diminished in their weight . in reference to which , your lordships may be pleased to be reminded , that when the earl of rochester was lord treasurer , several good orders were established by him for the exchequer ; one of which was , to have all the bags of money there received to be weighed . and i have extracted from the books of one of the tellers , the weight of five hundred seventy two bags of one hundred pound each , which were brought to the receipt promiscuously , in the months of may , iune and iuly last . now , whereas the weight of one hundred pounds sterling in silver moneys , according to the standard of the mint , ought to be thirty two pounds , three ounces , one peny weight , and twenty two grains troy , and consequently the said bags , containing fifty seven thousand two hundred pounds by tale , ought to have weighed two hundred twenty one thousand four hundred and eighteen ounces , sixteen peny weight , and eight grains troy : it was found that the said fifty seven thousand and two hundred pounds by tale ( comprizing some weighty pieces , though few ) weighed only one hundred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and seventy one ounces and five peny weight troy. so that if all the said sum of fifty seven thousand and two hundred pounds by tale were good silver , yet it was deficient in weight , one hundred and seven thousand six hundred fourty seven ounces , eleven peny weight and eight grains troy ; from whence i infer , first , that the moneys commonly currant are diminished near one half , to wit , in a proportion something greater than that of ten to twenty two . secondly , that going by the medium of the said number of bags , and making but a very small allowance for the unclipt pieces in the said bags , and for the difference of money brought to the exchequer , and that which passes amongst the common people ( the former being in most payments the best of the clipt moneys ) every one must be convinced , that if all the clipt pieces of silver moneys in england could be weighed together , they would be found deficient a full half of their standard weight . again , thirdly , if all the pieces in england that are more or less clipt , do amount by tale to four millions ( as is before supposed ) then i infer , that by re-coining the same upon the old foot , it will make but two millions , and the loss would be as much : but by re-coining the same upon the foot of six shillings and three pence for the present crown piece , as is above proposed , the same quantity of clipt money will make two millions , and five hundred thousand pounds , and the loss will be fifteen hundred thousand pounds , to be born either by publick aid , or by the particulars interested in the clipt moneys , or by both . the third general head discusses this question , whether it be or be not absolutely necessary at this time to re-establish the coins . it will readily be granted , that the melting and new fabricating the much greater part of all the silver moneys of the realm ( as the clipt pieces are ) would be a work very improper to be enterprized in the heat of an important and expensive war ; if the doing thereof were not indispensibly necessary , to render effectual the very ways and means , which in parliament may be resolved upon , in reference to aids or supplies for carrying on of the same war , and to produce a species of money that may be useful and serviceable for the upholding of the commerce , and for answering not only of the publick , but also of all private revenues , rents , debts , and other occasions , which concern the very existence of the great political body . it were enough for me upon this occasion , to say , that the house of commons judg'd it necessary to have the clipt moneys re-coin'd , having resolved thereupon , after many long and mature deliberations , in the last session of parliament . but the evils which for some time past have been growing upon us , in respect of the coins , being at length actually arrived , and more sensibly felt , i shall take leave humbly to state the same according to the best of my understanding , and submit the judgment thereof to publick authority . first , because such of the silver coins as are usually currant , or offer'd in payments , are very bad and defective ; the common people ( without any visible reason , other thanto avoid the danger and vexation of such moneys ) by almost an unanimous consent and agreement , do take guineas at thirty shillings apiece , little more or less , which raises the gold here ( as hath been observed ) to a much higher price in proportion than silver in bullion now goes at , or that silver in coin will go for , when it shall be raised to the foot of six shillings and three pence for the crown piece according to this projection . and this exorbitant price of gold here , hath encouraged foreign merchants to import it upon us in great quantities : and in return for the same , they either export our silver in coin or molten ; which lying in a little room , the exportation thereof cannot easily be prevented . or , secondly , they buy our native commodities ( the interruption of the navigation , not allowing us such an overplus of goods , brought from our colonies in america , and other foreign parts , wherewith england in times of peace could at least ballance its trade with its neighbours . ) or , thirdly , they draw back the aforesaid value of their gold , by bills of exchange or remittances . in every one of these cases , they make an unreasonable profit by their gold , which must needs , in a little time , exhaust a great part of the real stock and wealth of our nation ; but particularly in the first case , the bullion or coin in silver that is exported , is really worth much more than the gold imported for it ; and the difference becomes a dead loss to england , which labours too much already under the scarcity of silver , and will inevitably find it much scarcer and dearer than it is , if this golden trade continues . in the second case , they can furnish foreign markets with our native commodities , which would be carried thither by our own merchants , who want the aforesaid profit of the gold , to enable them to buy those goods as dear , and sell them as cheap as the foreigners can . and in the third case , by the great occasion they have for bills to draw back the value of their gold to the places from whence it came , they have contributed in a great measure towards lowering the exchange to the low countries ; which from divers causes ( whereof the importing of guineas is none of the least ) is sunk so very low , that the publick loses about four shillings in the pound upon all the moneys remitted thither ; which loss amounts to a great deal in the charge of the army . and the exchange to hamburgh and the east countreys for all naval stores , and other goods , is lower , and to all places in the mediterranean ( where our fleet is at present ) the exchange is yet more to our prejudice . and in regard the aforesaid excessive advance of the guinea pieces , at least a great part thereof , can be attributed ( as has been before observed ) to nothing else but the baseness and defects of the white moneys , there is no prospect of reducing the gold to a more moderate or reasonable price , by any means consistent with the interest of the nation , other than the amendment , and restoring of the silver coins . secondly , in the present condition and circumstances of our silver money , this nation and the trade and dealings thereof , are in a great measure deprived of the use and benefit of the whole species now in being , as well the heavy pieces as the light ; the former of which ( especially since the parliament in the last session appear'd desirous of making a reformation or amendment ) have been for the most part hoarded by the particular persons possessed thereof , in prospect that the silver contained in those weighty pieces will be raised to a value suitable to the bullion thereof if melted , which they may think will turn more to their profit than lending at interest , purchasing or trading therewith in the mean time ; or at least they may think these hoarded moneys ( when the mischiefs of corrupting and diminishing their coins , come to their last extremity ) will particularly stand those men in stead that have them ; however it be , its certain the weighty moneys at present do very little appear abroad , and it is not likely they will soon be brought to light , without raising their value , and re-coining the clipt moneys ; and as for the latter , a great part thereof , when offered in payments , is utterly refused , and will not pass , and consequently doth not serve to the end or purpose for which it was made : so that both the one and the other ( for the greatest part ) are become as it were a dead cash in the kingdom . thirdly , in consequence of the vitiating , diminishing and counterfeiting of the currant moneys , it is come to pass , that great contentions do daily arise amonst the king's subjects , in fairs , markets , shops , and other places throughout the kingdom , about the passing or refusing of the same , to the disturbance of the publick peace ; many bargains , doings and dealings are totally prevented and laid aside , which lessens trade in general ; persons before they conclude in any bargains , are necessitated first to settle the price or value of the very money they are to receive for their goods ; and if it be in guineas at a high rate , or in clipt or bad moneys , they set the price of their goods accordingly , which i think has been one great cause of raising the price not only of merchandizes , but even of edibles , and other necessaries for the sustenance of the common people , to their great grievance . the receipt and collection of the publick taxes , revenues and debts ( as well as of private mens incomes ) are extreamly retarded , to the damage of his majesty , and to the prejudice of a vigorous prosecution of the war ; so that there were never ( at least since i had the honour to serve the crown ) so many bonds given , and lying unsatisfied at the custom-houses , or so vast an arrear of excises . and as for the land tax , your lordships know how far 't is affected with the bad moneys , by the many complaints transmitted daily from the commissioners , receivers and collectors thereof , and by comparing the sum brought into the exchequer this year , with the timely payments of the like tax in preceding years . in fine , the mischiefs of the bad money ( too many to enumerate ) are so sensibly felt , that ( i humbly conceive ) they are sufficient to confute all the arguments against the re-coining the same in this time of war , and even the objections against raising the silver in our coin to the propos'd value . which arguments and objections ( how plausible or weighty soever they have been heretofore ) have not at this time sufficient ground or reason to support them , especially when the doing of these things is not projected for the particular gain or profit of the crown ( which formerly received a duty of seigniorage upon coining or re-coining of moneys ) but for the common good and utility of the king and his people . but whether all the evils and mischiefs before mentioned , and the increase thereof , which the nation must undergo , till a remedy be applied , do infer , or are tantamount to an absolute necessity for the present enterprising the work aforesaid , must be and is with all humility submitted to a better judgment than my own . the fourth general head is to propose the means that must be obtained , and the proper methods to be used in and for the re-establishment of the silver coins . in case his majesty ( taking into his princely consideration the great inconveniencies which the nation labours under by the badness of the moneys ) shall be pleased to direct , that all such silver coins called crowns , half-crowns , shillings or testers , as have been formerly coin'd in the royal mint , or mints of england with the hammer , and are more or less diminished by clipping , rounding , filing , or any other artifice , shall be melted and re-coin'd , my humble opinion is , that the general cautions following are to be observed ; first , that the work ought to be performed and finished in as little time as may be , not only to obviate a further damage by clipping in the interim , but also that the needful advantages of the new money may be the sooner obtained for the service of the nation . secondly , that the loss , or the greatest part of it ought to be born by the publick , and not by particulars , who being very numerous will be prejudiced against a reformation for the publick benefit , if it is to be effected at the cost of particular men , and who have great hopes of being indemnified by the votes passed in their favour in the last session of parliament . thirdly , this whole affair must be rendered easie , and very intelligible to the common people , so that they must not be compelled to travel very far when they part with their clipt money , or when they receive back the value of it in the new coins ; and in the mean time they must be furnished with a useful and transferrable credit that must take place in course of repayment , as fast as the new coins can be made . fourthly , that no room must be left for jealousie . and therefore all the clipt moneys in the several counties , far or near , are not to be brought entirely to london , to be minted there ; which would leave all the countries very bare , and create great suspicions till its return . fifthly , that as soon as the king's officers begin to take in the clipt moneys , or presently after , the course for repaying the stated value thereof in new moneys ought to begin also , and to be carried on by the new moneys , which shall be coin'd from the silver of the old , so far as it will extend ; and that an aid be given in parliament to supply the residue , in such time and manner , as that there be no interruption or intervals in the course of repayment , till such times as the registers for the clipt moneys to be brought in shall be fully satisfied . according to these general propositions , and some other requisites which have occurred to me , i have imployed my thoughts to reduce this whole affair into practice , and do humbly offer to your lordships consideration the particulars following , as the scope and design of my report : that is to say , first , that an aid be granted in parliament , and strictly appropriated for or towards the making good of the loss by the said clipt moneys , or so much thereof as shall be thought reasonable to be defrayed by the publick , and the incident charges which shall be necessary in the performance of this service . which aid , if it be commensurate to the whole loss , will , by estimation , as above , amount to fifteen hundred thousand pounds ; and if it be resolved that the publick shall bear but half the loss , or any other part of it , then the aid ( in the grant thereof ) may be proportioned accordingly . and the said aid is humbly proposed to be either by a land tax of twelve pence in the pound , or by a yearly sum to be answered out of the continued impositions upon goods imported , or some other certain fond , to take effect within a year to come at the farthest . secondly , that all the new moneys , whether they be gold or silver , shall in the coining thereof be made in fineness or purity , according to the present standard , that is to say , the gold to be twenty two carats fine and two carats allay : and the silver coins to be eleven ounces two peny weight fine , and eighteen peny weight allay , for the reasons above given . thirdly , that every pound weight troy of such . gold , shall be cut into eighty nine half guineas , or fourty four guineas and an half , or proportionably for greater pieces , as the same ought to be by the present indenture of the mint ; with a remedy for the master , of the sixth part of a carat , in case the gold be found too strong or too feeble in weight , or in fineness , or in both . and that every pound weight troy , of the new silver moneys , to be made as aforesaid , be cut into such numbers of pieces as will correspond in weight with the undimished crowns , half-crowns , shillings , six-pences , groats , three-pences , two-pences and pence , coin'd by the late indentures , except the twelve peny pieces , all which may be performed , as is above offered . and that the master be allowed a remedy of two peny weight in every pound weight troy , of the silver moneys , in case they be found too strong or too feeble in weight , or in fineness , or in both . fourthly , that by authority of parliament , or by a royal proclamation to be grounded on an act of parliament , the silver crowns , half-crowns , shillings and six-pences of the lawful coins of this realm now in being , and not diminished by clipping , rounding , filing , washing , or other artifice , be publickly cried up , and raised to the foot of seventy five pence for the crown , and proportionably for the rest , as i have also proposed ; and that the other small pieces of the old coins ( which are few in number ) go as they do at present . and that the new coins to be called the scepire , or vnite , the half-scepire , or half-vnite , the testoon or fifteen peny piece , the shilling or twelve peny piece , the half-testoon , the gross or five peny piece , quarter-testoon , the half-gross and prime be made currant upon the same foot , as i have also propos'd , pag. 61 , &c. fifthly , that coin , as well as english bullion , not exceeding a limited sum yearly , may be exported for the service of the present war by his majesty's warrant and command , and not otherwise ; which will help to keep down the price of silver . sixthly , that all the new moneys be made by the mill and the press , and not by the hammer . seventhly , that all the present silver pieces called crowns , half-crowns , shillings and six-pences of the hammer'd kind , which are diminished by clipping , rounding , filing , washing , or other artifice , be cried down , so as not to be currant after a day to be prefix'd . and that no person whatsoever shall hereafter be obliged to accept in legal payment any money whatsoever that is already clipt , or may hereafter be clipt or diminished ; and that no person shall tender or receive any such money in payment under some small penalty , to be made easily recoverable ; the passing , selling , or changing of such clipt or diminished moneys , in order to the re-coining thereof , as is herein after mentioned , only excepted . eighthly , that no crown piece ( of old hammer'd money ) shall be said or alledged to be clipt or diminished , or be refused as such in any payments whatsoever , if it hold eighteen peny weight ; and proportionable weight shall render the half-crowns , shillings and six-pences of the said hammer'd kind to be currant in all payments ; which seems necessary , because of the wearing of the old pieces , though they are not clipt . ninthly , that besides the principal mint within the tower of london ( where six presses can be wrought at the same time ) there be settled and established nine other mints within england and wales , to work with two presses in each , namely , one at newcastle upon tyne , to serve principally for the counties of durham , northumberland , cumberland and westmerland : one at york to serve for the counties of york and lancaster : one at nottingham to serve for the counties of nottingham , lincoln , derby and leicester : one at chester , to serve for cheshire , staffordshire , salop and north wales : one at hereford to serve for the counties of hereford , gloucester worcester and south wales : one at exeter to serve for cornwall , devon and somerset : one at salisbury to serve for the counties of wilts , dorset and hantshire : one at oxon , to serve for the counties of oxon , bucks , warwick , and berks : and one at cambridge , to serve for norfolk , suffolk , huntingdon , cambridge and bedfordshire ; and that at london will serve for the rest . nevertheless these several mints are not intended to be so restrained but that a man may carry his money to any of them that lies most in his way ; whereby there may be coined weekly ( as i am inform'd ) about fifty or sixty thousand pounds easily , which will finish the whole work in much less than a years time . and that the dyes , presses and other implements may be providing with as much haste as is possible , so as to be all sit for use by or before christmas next . tenthly , that the warden , master worker , comptroller , and assay-master of the mint do continue at the tower , and take the immediate care of the work there : and that they substitute fit and skilful persons as their deputies ( such as the king , or the lord treasurer , or commissioners of the treasury for the time being , shall approve of , and such as must be answer'd for by their respective superiors ) to carry on the works of the said nine mints in the countrey ; which substitutes shall be all sworn , for the faithful discharge of their respective trust ; and that the members of the corporation of the moneyers , and other ministers , officers and servants , be distributed accordingly , and small private marks ( if thought fit ) may be made to distinguish the money that shall be coin'd at the respective mints . eleventhly , that the charge of making every pound weight troy of silver moneys , which at present is one shilling and four pence half-peny , be made more reasonable , now so much is to be coin'd and re-coin'd . twelfthly , that at or near every town or place where there shall be a distinct mint established , as aforesaid , there shall be also settled and fixt an office , which shall be , and be called an office of the kings change ; and the chief officer therein ( to be named by his majesty , or the lord treasurer , or commissioners of the treasury for the time being ) shall be called the kings changer ; and that these changers shall have tellers or substitutes under them . and they , as well as their substitutes , shall be sworn for the due and just execution of their respective trusts , with regard not only to the king , but also to every person that shall have to do with them in respect of their places . thirteenthly , the said officer called the changer , with such tellers or substitutes as shall be necessary , shall daily and every day ( sundays only excepted ) attend at the publick office whereunto he or they shall be assigned , or at some other market town within the counties of his district ; and when he is to attend at such other market town , he shall cause the same to be publickly notified there , by affixing a paper in some open place in the market next preceding ; and at the said publick office , or at such other market towns , as aforesaid , the said changer by himself , or by his tellers or substitutes , shall receive and take in all such clipt or diminished money as are beforementioned , as any person or persons shall bring to him in order to be recoin'd ; and in performance of his office or duty , he or they shall be holden to observe the rules following . rule i. he or they shall carefully view and examine by the sight every piece or parcel of the said moneys as shall be so brought in ; and if he or they shall observe any piece or pieces , which shall seem to be so weighty , as that by the eighth proposition , the same ought to be currant upon the new foot ( of six shillings and three pence for the crown ) above-mentioned , he or they shall forthwith cause the weight thereof to be tried in the scale ; and if he or they do thereby find , that such respective piece or pieces are of such weight , as that the same ought to be currant upon the said new foot , without being melted down , the same shall be immediately marked ( with some impression ) by a hammer , and redelivered to the bringer thereof to be currant at the raised value , intended as aforesaid . the marking is design'd chiefly to prevent his being troubled with it again at the office. rule ii. if the changer , or his teller or substitute , shall suspect any piece or pieces of money , brought in as aforesaid ( either alone or in a sum ) to be counterfeit , or to be such money as was not originally coin'd in the royal mint of england , that then , and in every such case , he or they shall and may cause such suspicious piece or pieces ( in the presence of the bringers ) to be divided by shears for that purpose to be kept and used in the office. and if upon dividing the same , it shall appear by the grain or the touch , that such piece or pieces are of the goodness of sterling silver , that then and in every such case , he or they shall retain such silver ( as if it were not divided ) in order to be recoin'd . but if upon such division , the silver shall appear to be worse than the goodness of sterling , every piece so divided shall be delivered back to the bringer thereof , who in that case must be contented with his own again , in such a condition that it will not serve to defraud any body else . rule iii. as to all the said clipt or diminished moneys , which shall consist of the old crown , holding any weight less than eighteen peny weight ; the half-crown holding any weight less than nine peny weight ; the old shilling holding any weight less than three peny weight , and sixth tenth parts of a peny weight ; and the old tester or six-pence holding any weight less than one peny weight , and eight tenth parts of a peny weight , which shall be so brought in to be melted down and recoined ; whereupon the loss above-mentioned is to be born either by the state or by particular persons , or both ; it is not certain at present , how much of the said loss , by the resolution of the parliament , shall fall upon the one or the other . neverthelss , for the explanation of this project , and to shew how far it is practicable , one may ( as i humbly conceive ) assume any certain part of this loss , to be born by the publick , as if it were resolved . and considering that one hundred pounds by tale of all these clipt or diminished moneys , if they were in one heap , would not ( by the estimation which i have made thereof under the second general head ) hold above sixteen pound weight troy , or thereabouts , one with another ( which the king's subjects dealing therein , do also find by daily experience ) i do from thence infer , that if the said sixteen pounds weight troy ( which now runs for one hundred pounds by tale ) be brought to the changer , to be by him received at eight shillings per ounce ; then the said eight shillings per ounce , when it comes to be paid in the new money , will amount to seventy six pound and sixteen shillings , which will plainly cast about half the loss upon the state and the rest upon the owner of the money ( who will also find some recompence in the raised value of his unclipt moneys , if he has any such . ) therefore let eight shillings per ounce in the new money be the assumed or stated price , to be computed by the changer , for all the real silver which he shall find to be remaining in these clipt moneys ; which method of making good part of the loss to the subject by allowing him a large price for every ounce of the real silver remaining in his clipt money , seems to me to be much more secure , and to be ( in all respects ) a better way , than by allowing him a market price only for the said silver remaining , and contributing to his loss in proportion to the deficiency or silver clipt off ; because in the latter case it will be in his power before he brings in his money to clip it over again , and reduce it so low , as that the deficient weight ( if it were to be made good at the charge of the publick ) might be twice , thrice , four times , five times , &c. as much as the real silver brought in by him would amount to . whereas by this third rule , the danger of far clipping is perfectly obviated , for no man will clip off silver to sell at six shillings five pence an ounce by the market price , when he may carry it to the king's change , and there receive eight shillings per ounce for it . rule iv. whereas the said clipt moneys , so to be brought in , do retain very different and uncertain weights and sizes , as they are more or less clipt ; and it is evident that a clipt crown , holding more than twelve peny weight and twelve grains , will produce more than five shillings in new money if it should be changed by it self at eight shillings an ounce ; and an half-crown holding more than six peny weight and six grains , will ( if it were changed by it felf for eight shillings an ounce ) produce more than two shillings and an half in the new money ; and the like may be said of the old shillings and six-pences not clipt to a lower degree in proportion . i have considered ( although the government would not suffer in this case ) that goldsmiths and other subtil dealers in money , will be very apt ( if an effectual remedy be not provided against their artifices ) to cull out the heaviest of their clipt pieces , and to get such into their hands from their neighbours , to change them at eight shillings an ounce , and thereby gain for them more new moneys in tale than ever they amounted to in their old denominations . and in regard one hundred pounds by tale of the said clipt moneys , holding in weight two hundred and fifty ounces troy , when it is changed at the said rate of eight shillings an ounce , will produce one hundred pounds in tale of the said new moneys ; therefore it is proposed , that every person who brings any clipt or diminished moneys to be changed , as aforesaid , shall be obliged to mingle so many of his lighter pieces with his heavier pieces , as that upon the draught or weighing of them together , they may not at the said rate of eight shillings an ounce fetch more of the new moneys in tale than the said clipt money was coined for in its old denominations , that is to say , one hundred pounds by tale of such clipt moneys , shall be so mingled with heavier and lighter pieces as that it shall not exceed two hundred and fifty ounces in weight ; and every other sum of clipt money shall be restrained to the same proportion : this will effectually prevent the said trick of culling , and create little or no difficulty in practice , because amongst all the clipt moneys , those which might be converted to the advantage above-mentioned are few in comparison of the rest , and a sum consisting only of such weighty pieces will not in probability ever be brought to the changers by any , but by crafty or designing men. and by this device your lordships may be pleased to take notice that there will be no need of weighing every individual piece , which ( as i think ) would render the work endless and impossible . the changer , or his substitute , when he shall have carefully counted and weighed the said clipt money ( observing the caution aforesaid ) shall compute the value to be paid for the same , at the said rate of eight shillings an ounce , and enter into a leger book to be kept for this purpose , the day , month and year of his receipt thereof , the name of the person that brings it , the sum of the clipt money told , the exact weight thereof , and the said value which is to be paid for the same in new moneys in several columes to be made for that purpose , for which value a bill or ticket is to be given , as is after-mentioned . rule v. the changer , or his substitute , shall from time to time deliver over the clipt or diminished moneys , by him or them received and taken in , as aforesaid , to the proper officer of the respective mint for that district where it was received , in order to be re-coined , taking receipts for the same , by the weight and tale of every quantity so delivered over ; which receipts are to be the vouchers for the account of the changer , and the same , together with his leger , will serve to charge the accounting officer of the mint . rule vi. that there shall be provided for every changer a book or books , in which every leaf shall be divided into two columes by a figure or cypher to be printed therein , and shall be so drawn with lines cutting the cypher at right angles , as that six pair of bills may be contained in every leaf , and so that every counter-part may be separated from its principal indent-wise , by cutting through the cypher or flourish , all which bills shall be numbred in pairs arithmetically ( 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. ) as far as there shall be occasion , and there shall be printed thereupon the name of the place ( where it is at last to be satisfied ) and other words to this effect : no. 1. nottingham . this bill intitles the bearer to the sum of to be paid with interest , after the rate of five pounds per centum per annum out of the fond settled by parliament for satisfaction of the register for clipt or diminished money kept at the place aforesaid . and the said changer , or his substitute , upon adjusting ( by the third and fourth rules aforesaid ) the value which is to be paid in new money for any parcel of clipt or diminished moneys brought in , as aforesaid , shall deliver to the party bringing the same , an indented note ( to wit , one of those of the extream colume ) cut out from the said book , and signed by himself for the said value , to be paid in course as is hereafter mentioned , taking care that the sum expressed in the note so delivered be also written in words at length in the counterpart remaining in the book , which book by this means will not only be useful and ready in the city or countrey to cheque the principal bill , if there should be occasion for so doing , but will also well serve for an exact register ( without making any other ) to guide and govern the payment of the principal in the due course intended , and the just computation and payment of the interest upon every such bill . rule vii . that no such bill shall be given , or asked for any sum less then twenty shillings in tale of the new money ; and if several pieces be brought to the change for any sum or sums smaller then twenty shillings , several of them may be joyned in one bill , which may be taken in such name as the owners of the money shall desire ; and if they cannot agree , it may be in the name of the mayor , bailiff , or other chief magistrate of the place or ( if there be no magistrate ) in the name of the minister of the parish , in trust for the several owners of such small sums . the seven rules before going concern the duty and office of the changer only . fourteenthly , that all the silver which will arise from the said clipt or diminished moneys , or from the plate of the vintners and victuallers , or that shall be brought to be coined by the merchants , or by any other means , shall be coined into moneys , according to these propositions . in the doing whereof the chief officers of the mint , and all their substitutes , officers and servants shall be subject to the same , or the like constitutions and orders touching assaying , melting , refining , trying , charging , discharging , or any matters or things relating to the fabrication of these moneys as are already established for moneys made at the tower of london : and that the respective substitutes shall be accountable to their respective superiours , and that the superiour officers shall be answerable to the king , as now they are . fifteenthly , that the aforesaid bills for the values of the clipt or diminisht moneys shall be payable to the respective bearers , who shall shew forth , and bring in the same bills , whereby the property thereof will be easily transferrable without writing ; and the voluntary acceptance thereof in payment shall be a good discharge , as if the payment were made in money . and the better to encourage the currancy of these bills , it is proposed , that they bear an interest after the rate of five pounds per centum per annum from the date thereof ( which will plainly appear not only in the bill it self , but in its counter-part , remaining in the register book ) until its full satisfaction . so that it cannot be doubted , but these bills being charged upon so good a fond , in so near a course , and made profitable by the interest , will be preferrable to the bills of any banks , or goldsmiths , or private persons whatsoever , and serve as well ( to all intents ) as so much cash , whilst the clipt money is converting into sterling money ; and for the sake of the interest those that have the clipt moneys will bring them in the more speedily . memorandum , as soon as the bill becomes payable in course , although the owner do not fetch his money , it must be reserved for him , only the interest must cease from that time . sixteenthly , that the time for taking in of the clipt moneys be limited to six months . seventeenthly , for settling and establishing an ample and sufficient fond and security for the payment and satisfaction of the principal and interest , to be contained in the aforesaid bills , in such due course and order as that every person who parts with his clipt or diminished moneys , may plainly see and be satisfied , that he or his assigns shall certainly receive the value thereof ; and that the course of the payments will commence in a very little time , and be continued without any interruption till the whole be compleated ( which will very much influence this whole affair ) it is humbly propos'd that it may be enacted as follows , 2 ly , that it shall and may be lawful to or for any person or persons , bodies politick or corporate to advance or lend at the exchequer , in such unclipt moneys as will be currant by this project , any sum or sums of money not exceeding , eight hundred thousand pounds ( which by estimation will make good so much of the loss as is to be born by the state , or publick , if the clipt moneys are taken in at the said assumed rate of eight shillings an ounce ) and such loans will consequently be accepted in money at the raised value abovementioned . and the same , together with interest after the rate of seven pounds per centum per annum , may be charged upon the aforesaid aid , in the same manner as loans at the exchequer have usually been charged upon other aids . and that the weighty moneys that shall be so lent , be also appropriated , and be made auxiliary to the paying off the said bills in the several registers thereof , and be applied , distributed and transmitted to and amongst the same , by the commissioners of the treasury , and the lord treasurer for the time being , in such proporitons as they shall find to agree with the sum , that shall be due and owing from time to time upon those registers respectively . 3 dly , that any merchant , or other person whatsoever , having , or that shall have any silver bullion whatsoever , whether it be foreign silver , plate in vessels , the silver of counterfeit moneys , or any other kind of bullion whatsoever , shall have liberty to carry the same to any of the said mints , and have it in his own election , either to have it coined into new money , upon the new foot to his own use ; in which case he must receive his coin'd money , according to the present course of the mint ; or else to declare that he will lend the value of it at the exchequer , as part of the said sum , not exceeding eight hundred thousand pounds . in which case last mentioned , the officers of the mint shall certifie to the officers of the exchequer the quantity of sterling silver , or silver reduced to sterling , that shall be so delivered to them , and the value thereof , after the rate of six shillings and five pence halfpeny an ounce , and the officers of the exchequer , upon producing these certificates shall give to the party tallies and orders , charged upon the said aid , for the values so certified , as if it were lent in the said currant money at the receipt , in part of the said sum not exceeding eight hundred thousand pounds , and for the interest thereof . and in this case the new moneys which shall proceed from the bullion so lent , shall be appropriated , and be transmitted , and distributed to and for the satisfaction of the said registers , in the like manner as the other moneys which shall be lent , as aforesaid . 4 thly , in case the silver of the clipt moneys , and such loans , as aforesaid , shall not suffice to clear all the registers , then the remainder must be paid by the overplus moneys , to be collected for the aid it self ; and in default thereof ( which is not very likely ) the last deficiency ought to be paid out of the then next moneys to be raised by parliament . eighteenthly , that the present coinage duty may be applied towards the charge of the said mints in general . nineteenthly , that the commissioners of the treasury , or lord treasurer for the time being , and such person as the king shall appoint to be the under treasurer , or supervisor for this purpose , shall have the oversight , rule , order and government of this affair , according to the laws that shall be enacted for the same , and shall have power to administer the oaths , and take sufficient securities in the kings name , from all the officers belonging to the change , and such of the officers of the mint as ought to give security , and to require weekly , or other accounts from the several offices , and particularly to cause the general accounts of the said changers , and of the accompting officers of the mint , to be passed in the exchequer , in such due form as they ought to be , and to allow such salaries , and incident charges as shall be reasonable for the performance of this service , and also to allow the reasonable wast in the coinage . twentieth , that all persons concerned may have free access to the several legers and registers before-mentioned ; and no fee or charge shall be asked or taken of them , for any matter or thing which is to be done by any officer in execution of this project . twentyfirst , that at the first session of parliament after michaelmas , 1696. the said commissioners of the treasury , or lord treasurer for the time being , and the said under-treasurer or supervisor general for this affair , shall deliver fairly written to each of the two houses of parliament , a true and exact account of all the clipt or diminish'd moneys which shall have been brought in to be recoin'd , by the tale and weight thereof , appearing in the respective offices of the changers ; and of all the new moneys which shall have been coin'd in the said several mints , distinguishing those proceeding from the silver of the old moneys from the coins made of any other bullion , and shewing particularly the plate of the retailers of wine , beer , and other liquors , and the quantities of money made thereof ; also the totals of the said registers for the values of the clipt money , and the discharging of the same , and how much ( if any part ) shall then remain unsatisfied , and the like account shall be presented to his majesty . the fifth general head considers what must supply the commerce , pay taxes , &c. whilst the clipt money is under its new fabrication . this question is to be answered , by reminding your lordships of several particulars which have already occured in this report , with a small addition , as follows . first , the weighty money ( both mill'd and hammer'd ) now hoarded , will come forth at a raised value , which ( according to the above estimation ) may make one million and six hundred thousand pounds more or less ; besides the guineas and half guineas , which are but too numerous at their present rate . secondly , the bills for the clipt money will be so profitable and certain , and have such a quick course of payment , as aforesaid , that they will serve as so much running cash ; and in the coming forth , the number of them will encrease from day to day ; that from first to last , they will by estimation amount to above three millions . thirdly , as those bills are paid off , the new moneys coin'd , with the silver of the clipt , will come in their stead , the fabrication whereof will begin presently , and the work will be carried on with as much expedition as can be made by ten mints . fourthly , importers of bullion , and all others that have or can have any foreign or english silver ( even the silver of counterfeit moneys ) in their hands , will have a visible encouragement to carry the same forthwith to the mint to be coin'd . fifthly , it may be enacted , that all persons that sell wine , strong-waters , bear , ale or other liquors by retail , shall by a prefixt day , bring their tankards , cups , dishes and other plate to some or one of the mints , to be coin'd into new money , at the rate of six shillings and five pence half-peny an ounce , under pain of forfeiture thereof , and that the new money proceeding from the same shall be delivered to them according to the present course of the mint . i have ( my lords ) in this difficult matter considered and digested as many things as were possible for me in so short a time ; and i cannot forbear ( before i end ) to alledge , that if the coins are to be amended and established according to these propositions ( which may be rectified and improved by men of greater judgment and skill ) i cannot foresee that even whilst the work is carrying on , there will accrue such publick disorder , damage or distress , as the nation labours under before the work is put in hand . all which is most humbly submitted to your lordships great wisdom and iudgment . william lowndes . 12 septemb. 1695 in quodam libro vocato nigro scripto tempore regis henrici secundi , per gervasium tilburiensem , de necessariis scaccarii , remanente in curia receptae scaccarii , inter alia sic continetur . cap. 21. officium militis argentarii & fusoris . porro miles argentarius ab inferiore scaccario ad superius differt loculum examinandi argenti , cujus supra meminimus , quem cum intulerit signatum sigillo vicecomitis , sub omnium oculis effundit in scaccario xxiiii . solidos quos de acervo sumptos prius signaverit , factaque commixtione eosdem , ut ponderi respondeant , mittit in unum vasculum trutinae libram ponderis , in alterum vero de denariis quod oportuit , quo facto , numerat eosdem ut ex numero constare possit , si legitimi ponderis sint , cujuscunque vero ponderis inventi fuerint , seorsum mittit in ciffum libram unam , hoc est xx . solidos , ex quibus examen fiat , reliquos vero xxiiii . solidos mittit in loculum . item duo denarii praeter libram examinandam dantur fusori , non de fisco , sed de parte vicecomitis , quia in praemium sui laboris . tunc eliguntur a praesidente vel a thesaurario , si ille absens fuerit , alii duo vic. ut simul cum argentario , necnon & vicecomite , cujus examen faciendum est , procedant ad ignem , ubi fusor ante praemonitus , praeparatis necessariis , eorum praestolatur adventum . ibi iterum praesente fusore & hiis qui a baronibus missi sunt , diligenter computantur , & fusori traduntur . quos ille suspiciens manu propria numerat , & sic disponit eos in vasculum ignitorum cinerum quod in fornace est . tunc igitur artis fusoriae lege servata , redigit eos in massam , constans & emundans argentum : caeterum cavendum est ei , ne citra perfectionem subsistat , vel importunis aestuationibus vexet illud atque consumat . illud propter regis , hoc propter vicecomitis iacturam , set modis omnibus provideat & quanta procuret industria ut non vexetur , set ad purum tantum excoquatur , hoc autem ipsum providere dicunt hii qui ad idem missi sunt a majoribus . facto igitur examine defert illud argentarius ad barones , comitantibus illis , & tunc in omnium oculis ponderat illud cum libra praedicta ponderis , supplet autem mox quod ignis consumpsit , appositis denariis ejusdem loculi , donec aequilibriter se habeat examen cum pondere . tunc inscribitur idem examen desuper ducta creta hiis verbis , everwicscir , libra arsit tot vel tot denarios , & tunc illud essaium dicitur . non enim inscribitur nisi praeconcessio quod sic stare debeat . quod si vicecomes , cujus est , calumpniatus fuerit , illud quasi plus justo consumptum fuerit ignis scilicet exaestuatione vel plumbi infusione , vel & fusor ipse , qualibet occasione defecisse fateatur examen , iterum numerentur xx . solidos qui residui sunt in loculo praedicto , coram baronibus sicut demonstratum est , & eadem ratione servata , fiat examen . hinc igitur constare potest , qua consideratione de acervo magno propositae pecuniae xliiii . solidos seorsum ab initio mittantur in loculum , apposito vicecomitis sigillo . notandum vero est , quod fusor duos percipit denarios pro examine , sicut diximus . quod si quovis casu aliud faceret , & si tertio examinaverit , non percipiet quicquam , set contentus erit semel susceptis duobus . discipulus . miror a tantis tantam adhiberi diligentiam in unius librae examinatione , cum nec magnus ex ea quaestus nec multa jactura proveniat . magist. non propter hanc tantum fiunt haec , set propter omnes illas quae ab eodem vicecomite sub eodem nomine firme simul cum hac persolvuntur . quantam enim ab hac libra per ignem purgatorium decidit , tantundem ex singulis aliis libris noverit vice-comes de summa sua substrahendum , ut si centum libras numeratas solverit , & libra examinis iii. denarii exciderint , non computentur ei nisi nonaginta quinque . a computation of the common weight of a hundred pounds by tale , in ordinary silver money at this day , taken from a medium of the bags , weighed at the receipt of exchequer , in may , june and july last . memorandum , the weight of one hundred pounds by tale in silver moneys , according to the standard of the mint , ought to be thirty two pounds three ounces , one peny weight and twenty two grains troy. no. bags what they ought to weigh . weight at the exchequer . deficiency .   oz. dw . gr . oz. dw . gr . oz. dw . gr . 40 15483 16 16 8095 5 0 7388 11 16 74 28645 1 20 14373 5 0 14271 16 2 133 51483 14 22 27318 0 0 24165 14 2 120 46451 10 0 23496 15 0 22954 15 0 105 40645 1 6 20899 15 0 19745 6 6 100 38709 11 16 19588 5 0 19121 6 16 572 221418 16 08 113771 05 0 107647 11 08   oz. dw . gr . the medium of the weight of each hundred pounds — 198 18 00⅓ fere . the medium of the deficiency — 188 03 21⅔   387 01 22 finis . the amendment of the silver coins , being lookt upon as a matter necessary to be perform'd , it is thought convenient that this report should be printed , to the end that any persons who have considered an affair of this nature , may ( if they please ) communicate their thoughts , for rendring the design here aim'd at more perfect or agreeable to the publick service . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a49333-e80 * vide hales of sheriffs abcounts . p. 5. 18 e. 3. 1 h. 8. 23 h. 8. 34. 36. 37. 1 e. 6. 3. 4. 5. 6. 6 e. 6. 1 mar. phil. & mar. 2 eliz. eliz. vide cotton's speech to cha. 1. anno 1626. 19 eliz. 25. 26. 35. 43. jac. 1. 3 jac. 1. 10. 2 car. 1. 12 ca. 2. 22 ca. 2. 1 jac. 2. 1 w. & m. 28 e. 1. 18 e. 3. eod. an . 20 e. 3. 23. 27. 30 e. 3. 37. 46. 18 r. 2. 3 h. 4. 9 h. 5. 1 h. 6. 4 h. 6. 24. 49. 4 e. 4. 5. 8 e. 4. 11. 16. 22. 1 r. 3. 9 h. 7. 1 h. 8. 23 h. 8. 34 h. 8. 36. 37 h. 8. 1 e. 6. eod. an eod. an . 2 e. 6. eod. an . eod. an . 3 e. 6. 4 e. 6. 5 e. 6. 6 e. 6. 1. m. 2 eliz. 19 eliz. 25 eliz. 26. 35. 43. 2. jac. 1. 3. jac. 1. 9. 2 car. 1. 12 c. 2 22. 1 jac 2 1 w & m. memorandum , moneys clipt or unclipt , are afterwards described by certain weights . * 9 f. 3 & 17 r. 2 . prohibited goldsmiths and others to melt down small coins , under pain of forfeiture of the molten silver . 14. car. 2 . prohibited the melting any the silver moneys , under pain of forfeiting the same , and double the value ; if by a freeman , he is to be disfranchised ; and if not a freeman , he is to be imprisoned six months . 6 & 7 w. & m makes the conviction of melters more practicable , and inflicts six months imprisonment for the offence . see the annext account for this . englands vievv, in the vnmasking of two paradoxes with a replication vnto the answer of maister iohn bodine. by gerrard de malynes merchant. malynes, gerard, fl. 1586-1641. 1603 approx. 184 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 103 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a06788 stc 17225 estc s120062 99855262 99855262 20747 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a06788) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 20747) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 811:09) englands vievv, in the vnmasking of two paradoxes with a replication vnto the answer of maister iohn bodine. by gerrard de malynes merchant. malynes, gerard, fl. 1586-1641. [6], 197, [1] p. printed by richard field, london : 1603. a reply to jean bodin's response to the paradoxes of malestroict. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce 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good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bodin, jean, 1530-1596. -résponse aus paradoxes de m. de malestroit -controversial literature -early works to 1800. malestroict, jehan cherruyt, -seigneur de. -paradoxes. -early works to 1800. money -early works to 1800. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 daniel haig sampled and proofread 2003-10 daniel haig text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion englands vievv , in the vnmasking of two paradoxes : with a replication vnto the answer of maister iohn bodine . by gerrard de malynes merchant . opposita iuxta se posita , magis apparent . anchora spei london , printed by richard field . 1603. to the right honourable sir thomas sackuile , baron of buckhurst , lord high treasurer of england , knight of the most noble order of the garter , and one of the lords of her maiesties most honorable priuie councell : g. de m. wisheth all health , increase of honour and euerlasting happinesse . these two paradoxes ( right honourable ) hauing bene presented vnto the french king , as a meane to qualifie the generall complaints of the dearth of things in france , by prouing that nothing was growne dearer in three hundred yeares , were answered by the famous m. iohn bodine : who dedicated his aunswer vnto the president of the high court of parliament of fraunce , as a matter of great consequence and considerable in the gouernment of a common-wealth . hence proceeded that resolution , which emboldened me to present vnto your lordship , the substance of both their writings , with all their arguments and propounded remedies : to the end , that in the ballance of your graue wisdome they may be weighed with my replication thereunto , shewing how things are to be considered of for the good of a common-wealth . your honors iudgement shall easily perceiue , that the paradoxes are opposite , and do contradict one another , besides the slender and weake ground of their foundation : as also that maister bodine hath mistaken the true ground of the matter , by comparing the prices of things within themselues in a common-wealth : whereas the comparison must be betweene the home commodities of one common-wealth , and the forraine commodities of other nations : and that , either by way of permutation of commodities for commodities , or by commodities for money in specie , or by exchange . so that a due consideration must be had of the course of commodities , money , and exchange : which are the essentiall parts of all trade and trafficke . wherein must be considered the end of all merchants , which is gaine and profite : at which scope they ayme according to their profession and practise ; some by commodities , some by money , some by exchange , some by all three , or that which yeeldeth them most gaine . for as money doth rule the course of commodities : so the exchange for monies doth both rule the course of moneys , and commodities . by the disorder wherof it happeneth , that the riches of a common-wealth doth so much decrease , as it is not alwayes in the power of the wise , that haue the managing of the gouernement thereof , to make choice of the best , and to banish the worst : but must not only obey the tempest and strike sailes , but also cast ouer boord some precious things to saue the ship and bring it into a safe port : and afterwards by degrees ouercome greater things , changing the estate thereof from euill to good , and from good to better , which otherwise might haue bene preuented in the beginning by remouing the causes thereof . to your most honorable iudgement i referre the consideration of all : and pray the almightie to haue your honor in his diuine protection . and so in all humility i take leaue . london , this 16. of ianuarie . 1603. your lordships most humble and in all dutie bounden , gerrard de malynes . englands view . a sentence alleaged without application to some purpose , is to handle a matter without conclusion : and he that will attribute vnto any man the knowledge of the essentiall parts , grounds , or pillars of any science , must make apparant proof therof : otherwise , his assertion is like cloudes and winds without raine , or like an arrow shot at randon . quòd oportet patrem-familias vendacem esse , non emacem , is a worthie sentence to be duly executed of al good housholders , or fathers of families , especially of princes , that are the fathers of the great families of common-weales : who ( as iustinian saith ) are to prouide carefully for the two seasons , namely , the time of warre when armes are necessarie , and the time of peace more fitting wholesome lawes : in both which , it cannot properly be said , that the office of a prince is wholy employed about the gouernment of the persons of men , and of things conuenient and fit for the maintenance of humane societie , according to the definition of the heathens : but rather in the obseruation of religion towards god , and administration of iustice towards man : the one teaching vs especially of the life to come ; & the other , how we should liue in this life . religion doth knit and vnite the spirits of men , wherby they liue obediently in vnitie , peace , and concord : and iustice is as a measure ordained by god amongst men , to defend the feeble from the mightie . hence proceedeth , that the causes of seditions and ciuill warres , is the deniall of iustice , oppression of the common-people , inequall distribution of rewards and punishments , the exceeding riches of a small number , the extreame pouertie of many , the ouer-great idlenesse of the subiect , and the not punishing of offenders : which bringeth destructiō of common-weales . religion doth teach the feare of god , which maketh a good man , and is indeed the beginning of a prince . for sith princes raigne by wisedome , and that the feare of god is the beginning thereof : we must conclude , that it is the beginning also of a vertuous and wise prince . now , as princes raigne by god , so must they be directed by him : yea they raigne best and longest , that serue him best and most . serue him they cannot but according to his will ; and his will is not known , but by his word and lawe : which made the prophet dauid to meditate therein day and night , preferring the cause of faith or religion before temporall commoditie . and this is properly the first and chiefest point , that the prince is to regard : whereunto the other is annexed and doth depend vpon . for as iustice is administred and prescribed by lawes and customs : so reason requireth , that this gradation should be obserued concerning all lawes : that euen as the wils , contracts or testaments of particular men cannot derogate the ordinances of the magistrates , and the order of the magistrates cannot abolish customs , nor the customes can abridge the generall lawes of an absolute prince : no more can the lawes of princes alter or chaunge the lawe of god and nature . by iustice ( properly called distributiue ) is the harmonie of the members of a common-weale maintained in good concord : howbeit , much hindred , where vsurie is tollerated , which giueth cause of discord ; some few waxing thereby too rich , and many extreame poore : the operations of effects whereof , are declared by me vnder certaine similies or metaphors in the treatise of saint george for england . by iustice ( properly called commutatiue ) is the cōmerce and trafficke with other nations maintained , obseruing a kind of equalitie , which is requisite in euery well gouerned cōmon-wealth , where prouidence and pollicie cause the prince ( the father of the great familie ) to sell more then he buyeth , or else the wealth and treasure of his realme doth decrease , and it were his expences do become greater , or surmount his incomes and reuenues . this kind of equalitie is interrupted and ouerthrowne by the merchandizing exchange , as in the treatise of the canker of englands common-wealth is declared . for as all the trade and trafficke betweene vs and other nations , is performed by three simples : namely , commodities , money , and exchange : so ( as we haue proued ) is the course of exchaunge ( being abused ) become predominant and ouerruling the course of money and commodities ; whereby the wealth of the realme doth decrease . and this wealth cannot properly increase but two manner of wayes : namely , by bringing of money and bullion into the realme , or any other things which are not bought for our money , or bartered by way of permutation for our commodities : and by buying the forraine commodities better cheape then we sell our home commodities . and so may the father of the great familie become a seller and not a buyer , as is before alleaged . we haue hertofore noted the propertie of money to be : that plentie of mony maketh generally things deare ; and scarcitie of money maketh likewise generally things good cheape : whereas things are also particularly deare or good cheape , according to the plentie or scarcitie of the things themselues , or the vse of them . according to which plentie or scarcitie of money aforesaid , things generally became deare or cheape : whereunto the great store or abundance of mony and bullion , which of late yeares is come from the west indies into europe , hath made euery thing dearer , according to the increase of money : which like vnto an ocean , deuiding her course into seuerall braunches in diuerse countries , hath caused a great alteration and enhancing of the price of euery thing : and most especially , because the money it selfe was altered in valuation in most countries . so that the measure being altered and made lesser by denomination , there went more number to make vp the tale , and of necessitie other things went and were named accordingly in price . for money must alwayes remaine to be the rule and square to set a price vnto euery thing , and is therefore called publica mensura , the publike measure : whereby the price of all things is set to maintaine a certaine equalitie in buying and selling , to the end that all things may equally passe by trade from one man to another . this money must haue his standing valuation onely by publike authoritie of the prince : to whom properly belongeth the disposing thereof , as a matter annexed to his crown and dignitie . and as the money doth set a price to the naturall riches of lands : so doth it also set a price to the artificiall riches proceeding of the lands . and therfore reason requireth a certaine equalitie betweene the naturall riches and the artificiall riches . that plentie of money maketh things deare , is found by daily experience : whether it be in bullion of gold and siluer , or the same conuerted into mony . but so long as it is in bullion , it remaineth in nature of commoditie , which is giuen by way of permutation or barter in exchange for other commodities . plentie or scarcitie of commodities doth also alter the price of the things wanting or abounding according to the vse thereof , which is grounded vpon estimation by consent , after the pleasure and sensualitie of man. the historie of the west indies maketh mention , that during the great quantitie or abundance of gold and siluer that was found about fourscore yeares past , and the rarenesse of other things , a cloake of cloth was sold in peru for a thousand duckets , a paire of breeches of cloth for three hundred duckets , a good horse foure or fiue thousand duckets : and other things then in vse and rare accordingly . the romaines after the conquest of the persians , brought such abundance of gold and siluer to rome , that the price of lands did rise aboue two thirds . and on the contrarie , concerning scarcitie of money , grafton in his chronicle of england hath recorded , that king edward the third hauing great warres with fraunce and scotland , and incorporating the money into his handes for the maintenance thereof , caused through the lacke of money the price of commodities so to fall , that a quarter of wheat was sold for two shillings , a fat oxe for a noble , a sheepe for sixe pence , and other things after the rate . the consideration of the premises , maketh the two paradoxes of maister malestroit ( one of the officers of the french kings exchequer ) to be most paradoxicall , that is to say , farre differing from the vulgar opinion : which paradoxes ( vpon complaint of the people of the dearth of things in fraunce ) he presented vnto the king , thereby to qualifie the cause of their complaint . the substance whereof i haue thought most expedient to set downe , and the aunswer also which maister iohn bodine the greatest polititian or common-wealths man of fraunce , hath made thereunto : together with my explication thereof , and replication to his answer ; whereby the truth wil appeare , and how things are to be considered of for the good of the common-weale . the first paradox . to complaine of the generall dearth of al things in fraunce is without cause , seeing that there is nothing growne dearer these three hundred yeares . the second paradox . there is much to be lost vpon a crowne , or any other mony of gold and siluer , albeit one do giue the same in payment at the price he did receiue the same . since that the auncient permutation ( saith he ) hath bene chaunged in buying and selling , and that the first riches of men ( which did consist of cattel ) was transferred to the gold and siluer ; whereby all things haue receiued their estimation , and haue bene praised and sold for : it followeth , that those mettals are the right iudges of the good cheap or dearth of al things ▪ we cannot say , that any thing is now dearer , then it was three hundred yeares ago , vnlesse that for the buying thereof we must now giue more gold or siluer , then we did then ▪ but for the buying of al things , we do not giue now more gold or siluer , then we did then , saith he . therefore , since that time nothing is growne dearer in fraunce . to proue this he doth alleadge , that during the raigne of king philip de valois in the yere 1328. the french crowne of the flower-de-luce , as good in waight and finenesse , as the french crowne of the sunne now ; was then worth but twentie sols tournois : which ( for the better vnderstanding ) being valued according to the common computation of ten sols for a shilling starling , is two shillings . in those dayes ( saith he ) the french elle or yard of veluet was woorth foure liuers , which is foure crowns or 8 shillings starling : the said yard of veluet doth now cost ten liuers , or twentie shillings : and the french crowne , which was then valued at two shillings , is now valued at fiftie sols or fiue shillings . so that foure crownes do make the said 20 shillings ; yet the said french crownes do containe no more in gold , in weight , or in finenesse then before : wherby there is no more gold giuen in substance then heretofore , and consequently the veluet is not now dearer then it was then . during the raigne of king iohn his successor , in the yeare 1350 , the price of a measure of wine ( being indifferently taken ) was at 4 liuers or 8 shillings starling . and in his time were the golden francks coyned and valued at 20 sols or 2 shillings , and so 4 franks were 4 liuers : the said measure of wine is now worth 12 liuers or 24 shillings , and the said franke of gold is valued at 60 sols or 6 shillings : so that foure frankes valued now at three times the value , will pay these 12 liuers or 24 shillings ; and yet the said frankes do not now containe any more gold in substance then they did then . proceeding to the money of siluer , he taketh his beginning from the time of king saint lewis , who began his raigne anno 1227 , and caused the first sols to be coyned woorth 12 deniers tournois : which were ( as hee saith ) of fine siluer , and there went 64 peeces in the marke . the sols called douzains of late years coyned by king henry the second , and now currant , are of three ounces and one half fine , and of 93½ peeces to the marke : which accompted to the marke fine siluer is 320 , which is fiue times 64 peeces which were in king lewis his time . so that one of those sols of his time did make fiue of the sols made now : and consequently the twenty sols now are woorth but 4 of the sols then ; and the 25 liuers , 5 liuers ; the hundred liuers , twentie ; and so more or lesse accordingly . now when we pay for one yard of veluet 10 liuers or 20 shillings starling , it is no more then 2 liuers or 40 sols , which is two shillings starling : which was the price of veluet in saint lewis his time . the elle of cloth which now is sold for 100 sols or 10 shillings starling , is no more then twentie sols or two shillings starling in those dayes . the gentleman that hath now 500 liuers by the yeare to spend , hath no more then he that had one hundred liuers to spend in those dayes . in the like manner he proceedeth for corne , wine , and other commodities : and therupon concludeth , that the dearth of all things is but imaginarie , and that it is a vaine opinion of men without any substance of truth , that things shold be dearer now , then in those dayes . the second paradox . there is much to be lost vpon a crowne or any other money of gold and siluer : albeit , one do giue the same in paiment for the same price he did receiue it . this ( saith maister malestroit ) is an old and common error rooted in the iudgement of most men , that are farre from the mark and without their reckoning , as he will manifest by the same termes of his former paradox . in the aforesaid time of king philip de valois , the french crowne aforesaid was woorth but 20 sols , which is now currant for fiftie sols at the least . the gentleman that had fiftie sols rent or income , did receiue for it two crownes and a halfe , or so much in siluer accordingly : for which two crownes and a halfe , he had halfe a yard and halfe a quarter of veluet after the rate of 4 liuers the yard , which was the price of veluet then . now for this 50 sols , the gentleman doth receiue but one crowne , or so much of siluer money : and for that one crown he can buy now but one quarter of a yard of veluet after the rate of ten liuers , that veluet is now worth ; wheras before he had halfe a yard and halfe a quarter : whereby he loseth then one quarter and one halfe quarter of veluet vpon his crowne , although hee haue giuen the same in payment for 50 sols , which is the price for which he receiued the said crowne : and so proceedeth with other the like examples . then for the siluer mony , the gentleman ( saith hee ) who during the raigne of king lewis had 16 liuers of rents or incomes , did receiue for the said 16 liuers , fiue markes of fine siluer , or in gold accordingly . for as by the first paradox is declared the mark of fine siluer did containe 64 peeces or sols . now for the paiment of this rent of 16 liuers , he shall receiue 320 peeces or sols , which do containe but one marke of fine siluer : which is but the fift part of that which was contained in the 16 liuers of king lewis . in those daies 16 elles of cloth would haue bene had for those 16 liuers after the rate of 20 sols the elle , as good cloth & better then that which doth now cost 100 sols : whereof you shall haue now but 3 elles ⅕ for your 16 liuers : so that you shall lose 12 elles ⅘ of cloth vpon 16 liuers : albeit you haue giuen in payment euery liuer for 20 sols , at which price you haue receiued the same : which he doth also amplifie with other examples ; adding therunto further : that if any man would obiect & say , i care not what the crown , liuer or sols is woorth , so as i hauing one hundred liuers of rent , i may haue one hundred liuers payed me , and that i can pay out againe the said hundred liuers . this man ( saith he ) must then make proofe , that he can now haue as much wares for two sols which are now almost all of copper , as he could haue had in times past for two sols , which were of fine siluer : and in doing so , hee should make a third paradox , more straunge then the former . for he should go about to proue euery thing to be become better cheap : which cannot be proued . and therefore he concludeth still with the former first paradox , that nothing is growne deare . the substance and intention of these two paradoxes is ( saith he ) to shew , that the king and his subiects do now buy al things as deare , as in times past : for that they must giue as great a quantitie of gold and siluer , as in times past . but by the enhauncing of the price of the moneys of gold , from whence of necessitie proceedeth the embasing of the siluer monies : the king doth not receiue in payment of his reuenues , such a quantitie of gold and siluer , as his predecessors . in like sort , noblemen and gentlemen the kings subiects that haue great incoms , do not receiue such a quantity of gold and siluer as in times past : but are paid ( as the king is ) in copper , in lieu of gold and siluer . for which copper , according to the second paradox , they cannot haue so much wares , as they might haue for the like quantitie of gold & siluer . so that the losse , which we thinke to haue by the growing deare of all things , commeth not by giuing more : but by receiuing lesse quantitie of fine gold and siluer , then we were wont to haue . whereby we see manifestly , that the more we do enhance the price of mony , the more we lose : for thereby commeth the great dearth of all things now , which bringeth a generall pouertie to this realme . the famous and learned maister iohn bodine making answer vnto these two paradoxes , first sheweth : how m. malestroit hath abused himself , to vse the example of veluet to proue his assertions . for he proueth that veluets were yet vnknowne in france during the raign of philip surnamed the faire . and that although he should admit the example of veluets : yet it were no consequence for all other things , which were not so deare proportionably . and concerning the price of wines and corne , he doth prooue the same to be dearer 20 times , and more or lesse vpon occasions : concluding that those examples are also vnfit . and then he cometh to the price of lands , which cānot increase or diminish nor be altered of their goodnesse , if they be manured . whereupon he taketh occasion to shewe the fertilitie of france : and that certaine dukedoms , earledomes and baronnies are now worth of reuenue as much yearely , as they were sold for in times past . the lands being so much risen in price : he sheweth , that within sixtie yeares all things are growne deare tenne times the price comparing it to any mony in fraunce : and so setteth downe the causes of this dearth which are 5 in number : 1 the principal & almost only cause : the abundance of gold and siluer nowe extant in the kingdome , more then in times past . 2 the monopolies . 3 the want of things , caused by excessiue trade and wast thereof . 4 the pleasure of princes , that aduance the price of things . 5 the alteration of the valuation of money . concerning the first and principal cause , he saith , that the enhauncing of the price or dearth of all things in what place soeuer : proceedeth of the abundance of that which giueth price and estimation vnto things : and herupon doth alledge diuerse examples . plutarch and plinie do witnesse , that paulus aemylius after the conquest of macedon against the persians , did bring such abundance of gold and siluer to rome ; that the people was freed of all imposts , and the price of lands aduaunced vnto two third partes in a moment . the emperour augustus brought such great riches from egipt , that the price of vsurie did decrease , and the lands , became much dearer then before : which was not for the want of lands , which cannot increase or diminish ; nor for the monopolies , which can take no place in this case : but it was the abundance of gold and siluer , which abated the estimation thereof ; as it happened at ierusalem at the time of the queene of candace ; and in the west indies , when the spaniards became maisters thereof . by which reason the emperour tiberius was much mistaken , to cause him to be beheaded , that would haue made glasse soft and malleable ; fearing that gold and siluer would thereby haue lost their estimation : whereas the abundance of glasses , which are made almost of all stones , and many herbes , would haue diminished the reputatiō thereof ; as it falleth out with all other things . therefore ( saith he ) we are to shew , that there was not so much gold and siluer in times past three hundred years ago , as there is now : which may easily be known . for if there be mony within the realme , it cannot be so wel hidden , but that princes in their necessitie and occurrences will find the same : whereas it is well knowne , that king iohn in his great necessitie , could not find 60 thousand frankes ( let it be crownes ) for his raunsome ; but did remaine a prisoner to the king of england for the space of 8 yeares . in like sort , the king of scots being prisoner , could not find means for his ransome of a hundred thousand nobles , vntill the french king charles the fift payed the same , making alliance with robert the king of scots , anno 1371. king saint lewis was in the like predicamēt being prisoner in egypt . and the auncient histories do record , that for want of siluer , money was made of leather with a naile of siluer . wherby appeareth the great want of siluer and gold in fraunce in those daies : whereas comming to our age , we shall find that the king did find in paris in sixe moneths ( besides the incomes and reuenues ) more then three millions 4 hundred thousand pounds ; which after 10 pounds for the pound starling , is 340 thousand pounds starling . herunto he hath added a comparison betweene certain reuenues and monies giuen in mariage with princes and their kindred in those dayes ; with the like done by princes of late yeares : and how italie ( through peace and meanes of their trafficke ) had drawne all the gold vnto them ; the treasure in europe being generally increased since the discouerie of the west indies . for it is incredible ( saith he ) and yet true , that since the yeare 1533 , there came frō peru more then one hundred millions of gold , and twise as much in siluer . then he commeth to the causes of the increase of the wealth and treasure of france : shewing how the spaniard running to the vttermost corner of the world for gold , siluer , and spices , doth come vnto them for their corne , linnen cloth , and diuerse other commodities . on the other side , how the english man , scot , the people of norway , swaden , and denmarke are continually digging an infinite number of mynes euen to the very center of the earth , for mettals and minerals , for to buy their wines , prunes , and other commodities ; and most especially their manna of salt , which god sendeth as it were from heauen , their climate being more apt thereunto , then that of other countries : which causeth the flemmings to come with their emptie vessels , to buy the same for readie mony for the maintenance of their trafficke of salt-fish . and this is the first cause . the second is the increase of people , which by reason of the ciuill wars which ceassed betweene the houses of orleance & burgundie , are much augmented vntill the troubles for religion . whereas the warres of neighbor countries was but a necessarie purgation of the ill humors of the bodie of their commonwealth : and the wars at home had before that time wasted the countrey , ouerthrowne husbandrie , and spoiled all handiworke : the englishman hauing sacked their townes , burned their villages , murthered and robbed the most part of their people , and gnawed the rest to the bones : howbeit , within these 100 years , the towns haue bene reedified , villages new builded , woods increased , & the people augmented in such sort , that colonies of frenchmen haue bene sent into other countries to inhabite them : and the spaniard being negligent and lazie , is for the most part in arragon and nauarre without any labourers or any other workmen , but only frenchmen which are more seruiceable and actiue . another cause of the riches of fraunce , is the trade had since their king francis the first , with the turke and barbarian : & the banke of lyons erected in his time , brought aboundance of gold and siluer into fraunce , when he payed 8 vpon the hundred for money , and his successor ten , afterwards 16 , and 20 vpon vrgent necessitie : which made the florentines , lugueses , genowaies , germaines and others to come & dwell in the realme . by which meanes also the rentes leauied vpon the citie of paris are brought to amount vnto 3 millions , and three hundred and fifty thousand pounds tournois yearely . and the citie would be much richer , if there were a house as at genes , called the house of s. george , which taketh al the money that men will bring , after the rate of 5 vpon the 100 ; and doth deliuer out the same to the merchants to trafficke therwith , after two and three vpon the hundred : like as the great emperours antonie and alexander seuerus did , which did deliuer mony at 4 per 100. and augustus deliuered mony freely without interest to them that wold giue sureties to restore double the value , if they did not pay it at the time limited . by these means their subiects got much , and princes were not driuen to borrow , or to pill their subiects : but did rather diminish their imposts . and so he concludeth , that the aboundance of gold and siluer is the cause partly of the derth of things . the second cause of the dearth of things , namely the monopolies , he doth passe ouer as a matter not considerable to the things intreated of : which is ( saith he ) when merchants , artificers or laborers do assemble thēselues to set a price vpon the commodities , or their handiworke with the augmēting of wages . for the preuenting whereof , hee commendeth the abolishing of their fraternities or companies procured by the meanes of their chauncelor . the third cause of the dearth by the want of things , commeth to passe by the excessiue trade of the things , and by the wast thereof . it is certaine ( saith he ) that we haue our corne and wine better cheape during the warres with the spaniard and flēming , then after the warres when the trade is permitted . for the husbandman being driuen to sell and to make money of his wares , and the gentleman finding the same perishable , when the merchant dare not lade his ships , bringeth downe the price of commodities , and maketh the people to liue good cheape : which according to the prouerbe ( fraunce can neuer be famished ) would alwaies continue , if by the means of the stranger their storehouses were not emptied . the spaniard doth buy and transport their corn before it is ripe , because his countrey ( except arragon and granado ) is of great sterilitie : therfore haue the corn merchants great priuiledges for bringing corne vnto them , and are onely licensed to export mony for the same . from the spaniard ( saith he ) we haue but their oyles and spices , and yet the best drugges come vnto vs from turkie and barbarie . from italie we haue their allumes , some silkes , and other commodities . oyles we may haue within our dominions of languedock and prouence more then we do need : and there are as good silkes made with vs , as at florence and genes . touching allumes , if we would cut the veines of the pireney mountaines , we should find an infinite number of allume and copresse , as hath bin sufficiently proued : whereas france doth spend farre aboue the value of one million thereof yearely : and the wast of things is incredible . the fourth cause of the dearth of things , proceedeth from the pleasure of princes , which do impose a price vnto the things which they affect . for it is a generall rule in state matters , that princes do not onely giue lawes vnto their subiects , but also ( as plato hath noted ) they do chaunge by their example the maners of men . to which purpose he doth vse the example of their king francis the first , who being hurt in the head , caused his haire to be cut off : wherin the people did presently imitate him , as following the will of princes , & praising that which they do commend . we haue seene at one time ( saith he ) three great princes striuing ( as it were ) who should haue the most learned men and best artificers : namely , the great king francis the first , henry king of england , and pope paul the third : in such sort , that the king of england could neuer haue the learned and reuerend beda ; and the french king did pay 72 thousand crownes for a diamond , rather then king henry should haue had the same . presently the nobilitie and the people did giue themselues to studie and to buy precious stones : and whē king henry beganne to make litle account of the stones , their generall estimation and price was abated : wherof there are many examples in like sort for the art of painting . the princes of the east and alexander the great had brought them into such credite , that a picture of venus issuing out of the waters which apelles had made , was bought for 60 thousand crownes ; alexander gaue for his 200 talents , that is 36 thousand pound starling . apelles himselfe made no difficultie to buy a picture of protogenes for 50 thousand crownes : concluding with other examples , that the pleasure of princes maketh things deare as aforesaid . and so returning to the wast or consumption of things , wherein their example is also imitated , he doth reprehend the cutting of silke vpon silke , or any other stuffe , so that it can serue but once for one person : which caused the turkes to call vs mad men . and further he findeth fault , that our lackies and seruants are apparelled therwith , and that so much stuffe is put into the apparell , disguising with new fangled fashions the proportion of our person or bodie , contrarie to the ancient modestie : when as the fashion of the apparell will many times cost more then the apparell itselfe . to this is linked the desire of costly houshold stuffe , and daintie and delicate fare of al sorts of meate and drinke ; whereof he alleaged examples , which are better cōcealed then spoken of : for they bring with them all licentiousnesse and excesse , as a spring of vices of the calamities and miseries of a common-wealth . if any man shold here obiect ( saith he ) that if things did still become dearer , partly through the wast , and partly also for the abundance of gold and siluer , no man should be able to liue because of the dearth : it is true . but the warres and calamities happening to a common-wealth do stay the course hereof : as we may see , that the romaines haue liued with great scarcitie , and to speake properly , in great miserie almost fiue hundred yeares , when they had but copper monies of a pound waight , and without stampe , vntill king seruius ; and they made no siluer monies but 485 yeares after the foundation of rome ; and 62 yeares after , they made monies of gold . and here he taketh occasion to compare the price of things altered during the gouernment of the romaines , and the lawes made by them for the suppressing of abuses : and that all their gold and siluer came vnto them in a hundred and twentie yeares by the spoiles of all the world , which was brought to rome by the scipions , paul aemylius , marius , sylla , lucullus , pompey and caesar , especially by the two last . for pompey did conquer so much land , as made the reuenue of the empire to come vnto 8 millions and one halfe of crownes . caesar notwithstanding all his expences & prodigalities brought to the treasurie 40 millions of crowns : hauing giuen at one time vnto paul consull 900 thousand crownes for to hold silence , and vnto curion tribune 1500 thousand crownes to take his part . marke antonie went further : ( if it be true that which plutarch and appian haue written ) for he gaue vnto his armie for their seruice done 200 thousand talents , being 120 millions of crownes : which is to be credited , seeing that the emperour adrian for to haue the goodwill of 40 legions , gaue ten millions of crownes . so that we may here see abundance of gold and siluer at rome : but it did not last euer , for in lesse then 300 yeares , the parths , goths , hercules , hongers and other cruel nations did ouercome the empire & all italy , and ouercame the romains , burned their citie , and tooke the spoile of them . the like doth happen vnto all commonweales , to wax and increase by litle and litle , and to flourish for a time in wealth and power : and afterwards to grow old and decline , vntill they be vtterly ruinated and destroyed . comming to the last cause of the dearth of things by the alteration of mony , he sheweth how master malestroit hath mistaken the matter in the monies themselues made within 300 yeares . for whereas he saith , that s. lewis caused the first sols to be coyned worth twelue deniers , whereof 64 peeces went to the marke ; and that in philip de valois his time , the crowne of the flower-de-luce without number , & as good as the crowns now , was valued but 20 sols ; and that afterwards king iohn caused the franks to be made of fine gold which were but valued 20 sols ; and that the sols of siluer of that time was worth fiue of our sols : he doth not say of what weight or finenesse the monies were in those daies . and touching the last point he doth contradict himselfe : for he doth acknowledge that the old crown weighing three penny weight , is no more worth then 60 of our sols : so that the auncient sols of fine siluer can be worth but three of them : and yet the frankes of gold do weigh lesse by foure graines then the old crowne , and are no better in finenesse then the other . and by the proclamation of the yeare 1561 , the old crowne is valued at 60 sols , and the franke at 50 sols : which if his proposition were true , and that it were fiue sols for one ; then would the old crowne be by this proportion valued at 100 sols , and the franke at 90 sols . and if master malestroit ( saith he ) doth take his comparison of the alteration of monies at some one time in any such years whē monies haue bene embased ; that is no consequence at all : for within the abouesaid time it is manifest , that the money was once so base in allay , that one of our sols was worth 5 of those which were then . and then he sheweth , how al things were rated for their customes , and how vsed within fiftie or sixtie yeares : concluding that the price of things ( notwithstanding his former allegation ) is not altered by the valuation of monies . but wel , that things are growne deare , contrary to the first paradoxe of maister malestroit : and that was the first point which he was to proue ; & the second was the causes of this dearth , as we haue briefly rehearsed . but forasmuch ( saith he ) as some great personages do labour by words and writings , that the trade should be cut off , and that no commodities shold be transported out of the realm ; making accompt that we could liue peaceably within our selues , and very good cheape without giuing or receiuing any thing of other nations : he doth reprehend them , and sheweth that they haue need of the straungers , and most especially of the trafficke with them . insomuch that although they could liue without them in regard of commodities : yet charitie and humanity willeth vs to maintaine friendship with our neighbours , and rather to giue them part of our blessings , then not to deale or to communicate with them . wherein the romaines were much to blame , who hauing extended their power from the west vnto the east , did refuse to take vnder their gouernment some nations , because there was nothing to be had of them : whereas the greatest gift of honor that god giueth vnto man , is to giue him the maiestie to commaund , and to do iustice especially to the poore not being instructed . but if this lesson doth not please men of this humour , god hath so bestowed and deuided his graces and blessings , that there is no countrey in all the world so fruitfull , but hath neede of diuers things : whereby he holdeth all the subiects of his commonwealth in friendship , or at the least doth hinder them to make long warres one with another . and so he proceedeth to shew some remedies to the causes aforesaid . the abundance of gold and siluer now adaies more then in times past , must partly excuse the dearth of things : ( saith he ) adding further touching monopolies and the wast of things , that in vaine are good lawes made if they be not executed ; especially if the king do not cause the courtier to obserue them , whom the common people doth imitate : whereby also many superfluous things might be auoided , and not brought into the realme ; as is done by italians with perfumes , counterfeit stones , and such trifles . cōcerning the excessiue trade of some commodities , he declareth , that as the things transported , cause the like to grow deare by the exportation : so the things imported becom the better cheape . wherof he excepteth the trade of corne , which is to be gouerned more wisely : for they haue had intollerable famines for want of such a due care as ioseph had in aegypt . the meane to preuent the same , is to haue many publike store-houses in seuerall places , making prouision of corne yearely , by selling the old and prouiding new in place . touching the opinion of those , that would haue the vines taken vp , and corne sowed in the place : or at the least to commaund that no vines should be planted hereafter : the husbandman doth with reason laugh thē to scorne . for god himselfe did so direct and dispose the nature of the ground , that all should not be for corne , or all wine ; seeing the one hath need of a fat , and the other of a stonie ground . and if the vines were pulled vp , wee should ( saith hee ) depriue fraunce of one of the greatest riches of the land . but there is a meane propounded by those that haue vnderstanding in matters of imposts , which would very much enrich the realme , and releeue the common-people : which is , to lay part of the ordinarie charges vpon corn , wine , salt , wood , linnen cloth and draperie : and most especially vpon wine , salt , and corne , which are three elements whereupon ( next vnder god ) the life of the stranger dependeth , and which can neuer faile . the mines of the north and of the indies are exhausted in a short time , and the mettals cannot grow againe : but our springs of corne , salt & wine are not to be drawne out . and howsoeuer the season of the yere doth hinder them to come to perfection : yet other nations do not regard , at what price soeuer they buy thē . and it commeth to passe many times , that salt is better cheape in england , scotland , and flaunders , then in fraunce : neither can other nations take offence if impositions bee layed vpon these commodities : for they haue done the like vpon diuers commodities of their owne . and so he concludeth , that by these meanes there would be the lesse transported : and so the dearth of things qualified by greater store remaining within the land . another remedie against the dearth of things , especially of victuals , is to restore the vse of fish to his auncient credite : by meanes whereof , beefe , mutton , foule , & all such kind of flesh would become better cheape : shewing to this purpose the commodious situation of france , and the great nūber of riuers within their dominion . and so with galen he doth preferre fish before flesh : for that fish is more wholesome , and is neuer vnsound , as the porke and hare , nor scuruie as the sheepe , nor lousie as the bucke , neither subiect to diuers diseases as beasts are : neither hath god created foure hundred seuerall sorts of fishes ( which doe not cost any thing to feede ) in vaine , being almost all fit for meate : whereas there is not 40 sorts of beasts and fowle , fit for the nourishment of man : but to eate flesh and fish together is very vnwholesome . and hereupon he sheweth , in what great estimation fish was in times past : and that the principall banquets were made of fish ; as that of caligula which did continue sixe moneths , who made all the mediterrane sea to be fished ; and but for varietie , fowle and other meates were vsed with it . the coast of picardie where the sea is of a sandy ground , ( saith he ) there the fish is flat ; the coast of normandie & guienne which is stonie , bringeth foorth the rockefish ; and the coast of brittaine which is slimie , yeeldeth the round fish , as lamprays , congers & such like : and yet man knoweth not from whence at one season doth come the infinite millions of herrings about the coasts of fraunce and england , pilcheards about galisiea , and whales and other fishes in new-found land and other seas . commending hereupon our custome of england , where men are constrained ( saith he ) to obserue fish-dayes in the weeke , notwithstanding the great plentie of beasts and fowles . the only meane to bring this to passe is the example of the prince and great men , whom the people will imitate ▪ adrian a hollander was of a poore scholer made pope , by meanes of the emperour charles the fift his disciple : and because he did loue to feed vpon hake-fish , presently all the courtiers , and his followers to please him did the like , and the people also : so that nothing was dearer at rome then hake fish . the example therfore is of great efficacie , which inferiour men do follow of their superiours . then he cometh to the last point , which may hold the price of commodities in a certain equalitie : namely , certaintie and equalitie of money , which for the time must not be mutable or incertaine : for if it were , no man could make an estate certain : the contracts wil be vncertaine ; the rents , charges , taxes , wages , pensions , penalties , customs and impositions , and all things else in the commonwealth wil be vncertaine : wheras the prince ( saith he ) must be the warrant of the monies vnto his subiectes , and is to haue a singular care to auoide embasing and counterfeiting . and then he discourseth of some auncient monies and waights vsed by other nations , and of the propertie and diuersitie of mettals , and of the alteration of mony in fraunce , together with their finenesse , proportion , & valuation : which ( for to auoide prolixitie ) i do passe ouer , albeit i meane to touch in part hereafter . this is the substance and answer of maister bodine vnto these paradoxes , which he hath dedicated vnto the president of the french kings parliament : for to encourage all them ( saith he ) that wish well to the common-wealth , to continue in the studie of so good a subiect ; to the end that princes which haue the power to commaund , together with those that do giue them counsell , may be more resolued in those things , for the honour of god , & welfare of the common-wealth : when they shall vnderstand the iust complaints and griefes of the poore people , which doe feele the smart , but cannot for the most part iudge of the causes thereof ; and those that haue some iudgement , cannot haue audience or meanes to make it knowne , but by writings vnto those that can easily remedie the same . but if maister bodine had according to his wisedome and deepe iudgment in other matters , considered of these two paradoxes : he would haue made a direct aunswer thereunto , before he would haue proceeded in his discourse before alleaged . the first paradoxe being considered of with the second , will shewe a manifest contradiction or contrarietie . for the first doth consist in giuing of more gold and siluer for commodities now , then in times past : which he denyeth . and the second , in receiuing lesse commodities for the gold and siluer now , then in times past ; which he affirmeth : which both waies is to be taken in nature of permutation . now if we do not giue more quantitie of gold and siluer for commodities then in times past : how can we receiue lesse commodities for the gold and siluer , and thereby receiue a losse , as in the second paradoxe is alleaged ? again , if we do receiue lesse quantitie of commodities for gold and siluer , then in times past , according to the second paradoxe , whereby we sustaine a losse : how can the first paradoxe be true , that nothing is growne deare , for that we giue no more quantitie of gold and siluer for commodities , then in times past ? the explanation of his intention touching these 2 paradoxes , is more absurd considering the premisses . for whereas he saith , that the king and his subiects do now buy al things as dere as in times past , by giuing as great a quantitie of gold or siluer for it : it followeth , that the king and other his subiects do receiue the like quantitie of gold and siluer proportionably for their reuenues , and not a payment of copper in lieu of gold and siluer ( as he saith ) considering the course of mony is all alike betweene the king and the subiect . but if we will take his meaning to be , that he hath excepted the crowne landes and incomes of the king , and the reuenues of noblemen & others , wherof the price ( as it shold seeme ) is not altered with them ; like as the crowne lands with vs , which are at the auncient rent , when siluer was at twenty pence an ounce , which ounce is now esteemed fiue shillings : how can this construction be admitted , considering that he ▪ doth conclude againe in generall wordes , that the losse which we thinke to haue by the dearth of things , commeth not by giuing more , but by receiuing lesse quantitie of gold and siluer , then we were wont to haue ? which is by enhauncing the price of money ( saith he ) which is the cause of the dearth of all things now , and bringeth a generall pouertie to the realme . a conclusion most opposite to the first paradoxe . and whereas he saith , that of necessitie the embasing of the siluer monies proceedeth by the enhauncing of the gold : the word embasing must be vnderstood in price , according to the proportion of valuation which is obserued betweene the gold and siluer : which in those daies was 11 of fine siluer to one of fine gold . but the siluer is not embased by allay or copper in aduancing the price of gold : for the substance remaineth vnaltered and becommeth only abated in price in regard of the gold . now if maister bodine had not shewed before , that malestroit hath mistaken himselfe in the setting downe of the enhauncing of money in price , and the embasing by allay : wherby the gold monies by him alleaged to be risen from one to two and a halfe , and three in price , and the siluer monies from one to 5 : we might haue examined this proportion betweene gold and siluer according to his allegation ; and therby made knowne , that he had mistaken the matter as well in the alteration of monies in valuation , finenesse , and waight , as hee did the whole ground of his paradoxes . for hauing lost the line , wherewith he went into the labyrinth of monies and their property : he is like vnto a man , who hauing lost his way amongst the woods , the further he goeth , the more he erreth from the right way . maister malestroit might haue declared his intention in two words , if he had had the true ground , and vnderstood the matter he went about : by prouing onely , that when monies do alter in waight , or in finenesse , or in valuation , or in all three ; the price of things doth alter onely by denomination , if the valuation be made accordingly . as for example : an ounce of starling siluer was deuided heretofore by the kings of england in 20 peeces , and so valued 20 pence , euery pennie in value waighing a penny waight . this ounce in processe of time ( as we haue shewed elsewhere ) was deuided afterwards into 30 peeces , then 40 peeces , 45 peeces , and now 60 peeces : so that a pennie waight of starling siluer is now three pence , and the peece is only altered in name : for a three pennie peece waigheth but a penny waight . so that the ounce of siluer being altered onely in denomination , the price of commodities must needs receiue the like name or denomination . and if the price of commodities were not risen aboue this estimation of three for one : then m. malestroit might haue made good his first paradoxe : howbeit failed in his second paradox . again , let vs suppose that the queene of england should reduce the valuation of an ounce of starling siluer vnto 20 pence , presently the price of things would be altered accordingly : and that , for which we giue now 3 pence , should but beare the name of a pennie ; which would seeme to be better cheape , and yet would not be so in effect . for we should giue still the quantitie of siluer of three pence , albeit the name thereof were altered : and therefore not better cheape . true it is , that the queene should receiue for her incomes and reuenues of crown lands such a quantitie of gold and siluer as her predecessours did in times past : and noblemen and others in like sort for their lands , and officers for their fees being after the old rent and custome . but this reduction wold proue very preiudiciall , considering that other princes haue enhaunced the price of their monies , which doth carie a shew of gaine in the eyes or iudgement of most men , which are thereupon inclined to carie money vnto thē : albeit , the price of the cōmodities of those princes dominions , doth not onely counteruaile that supposed gaine in the generall course of trafficke , but also farre surmount the same . but the money with vs not being altered in waight , finenesse or valuation within these fiftie yeares ( in which time the price of commodities is so much altered ) how can the first paradoxe take any place ? and if his second paradox had bene of a true ground , what reason hath any man to measure things present with the things of former ages , so long as there is no alteration of the money almost within the age of any man ? for if aboue fiftie yeares past i haue receiued an angell of such waight and finenesse as the angels now adaies , for ten shillings , and do pay out the same againe for ten shillings ; there can be no losse , although i should receiue lesse quantitie of commodities for the same : which if i do , i cannot attribute the losse thereof vpon my angell , but rather to the dearth of cōmodities , the mony not hauing bene altered within my time . king henry the 8 in the beginning of his raign , did find the ounce of starling siluer to be valued at 40 pence , & the price of commodities accordingly , the money being in weight and finenesse according to the auncient standard of england : at which time the monies of other countries adiacent was not so much aduaunced in price . for an angell being in his time valued at 6 shillings 8 pence , was then woorth beyond the seas 9 shillings 7 pence , and the siluer money accordingly . afterwards towards the latter end of his raigne vpon especiall occasion , he caused all his mony to be embased by allay of copper , and made very base money : whereby the price of all commodities was aduaunced . so that the money ( being altered in substance ) was the cause to aduaunce the price of commodities : albeit that afterwardes when ( to her maiesties great honour ) the substance of mony was reduced to her former puritie and finenesse , had not the like effect ; which seemeth to contradict our matter in hand . but we must note here , that there is a coherence to be considered of in the mony betweene the weight , finenesse , and valuation ; whereby if generally either of these be altered , all things do alter in price accordingly : but if it be altered in part with due consideration , it hath not the like effect or operation . king henry did alter the finenesse of the mony by allay of copper , and withall did aduaunce the valuation of an ounce of siluer frō 40 pence vnto 45 pence , and the gold accordingly ; accounting one of fine gold to 11 of fine siluer : whereby an angell was worth 7 shillings 6 pence . the money being brought to the former goodnesse in her maiesties raign , would haue abated the price of other things accordingly : had not the valuation bene altered and counteruailed the same , together with the increase of money . for this ounce of siluer aforesaid was valued at 60 pence , and that which before did beare the name of 45 was called 60 : which denomination caused al other things to remaine at the old price , whereunto they were come through the basenesse of the money before that time . now before we conclude , it is worthie the noting , that when in this kings time the angel was woorth vnder the archduke of burgundie , 9 shillings 7 pence ; the king did send vnto the duchesse ( whiles her husband was in germany ) desiring her to value the angell at 10 shillings flemish : but he could not obtaine the same . which seemeth very strange , considering that the aduancing of the price of money , doth cause the money to be transported to the places where it is aduaunced : whereby all the angels might haue bin caried into her dominion . but she like a wise and politicke duchesse , caused the matter to be examined and considered of , sending men skilfull in mint causes into england . and finding that the golden fleece , aliâs toison d'or , was the money then most currant with her : and that the same was worth both in regard of waight & finenesse , asmuch as the angel , & was also valued at 9 shillings 7 pence : she could not graunt the kings requests without altering also her money , vnlesse shee would haue suffered the english merchants to bring angels vnto her for 10 shillings , and to carie away the golden fleeces for 9 shillings 7 pence to be conuerted into angels , to the great losse of her dominions , both in the money , and to leaue the commodities of her country vnuented : so long as there were a gaine vpon the mony , which abated the price of cōmodities . these two paradoxes being thus vnmasked , are easily conceiued of any man of iudgement to be far from the truth : and therefore will the vnderstanding thereof be accounted a matter of small moment , as all things else are when they be known ; like vnto the egge of columbus , who hauing discouered the west indies , and hearing some say at a dinner , that if he had not done it , another might and wold ; called for an egge , and willed all the guests one after another to set it vp on end : which when they could not do , he gently bruising the one end of it did make it flat , or rather by swinging did breake the yolke within , and so set it vp : shewing how easie it was to do that which a man had seene done before him . now let vs examine the answer of maister bodine . maister malestroit was of opinion , that nothing was growne dearer in three hundred yeares , as is before shewed . but maister bodine was of a contrarie opinion , and sheweth fiue causes of the dearth of things , as we haue also declared . whereunto for a generall and direct answer by way of replication , we say : that to shew the alteration of the price of things and the causes therof , is of small moment , the true ground of the matter being by him mistaken . which true ground must be by making a comparison of the enhauncing of the price of the commodities of one countrie , with the price of the commodities of other countries : and thereby to find out , whether things are grown deare with vs in effect ; and whether we pay more proportionably for the forraine commodities within the aforesaid time of three hundred yeares , then we doe receiue for the price of our home commodities . for if we do now pay more for corne , wine , and all other victuals ; and sell our commodities for more then we were wont to do proportionably : here is no alteration in effect , but in name onely , so long as the substance of the money is not altered in propertie . but if we sell our commodities dearer , and buy our victuals dearer then heretofore ; and that ouer and aboue the price thereof , we must pay farre dearer for the forraine commodities , then proportionably the price of our commodities is risen : this causeth vs to be aloser in particular , and bringeth by an ouer-ballancing of forraine commodities with our home commodities , a generall losse to the common-wealth : which to supply , causeth vs to make vp the inequalitie with mony , which is the treasure of the realm . the consideration then must be , not to compare things within themselues in the commonwealth where we do liue ; but betweene vs and other nations with whom we deale , either by way of permutation of commodities for commodities , or commodities for money in specie , or by exchange . so that we must examine the course of commodities , money ▪ and exchange , which are the three simples , vnder the which all the trade and trafficke is performed : whereof we shall intreate , when we shall haue examined the matters by him alleaged in particular . the fiue causes of the dearth of things by him alleaged , are to be distinguished according to our forme ▪ obseruation . for the first & last cause concerning plentie of gold and siluer , and the alteration of the valuation of money , may be causes that generally things are deare . but the other three touching monopolies , the want and wast of things , and the pleasure of princes ; can but make things particularly deare , according to the vse thereof : wherein the time maketh also now and then an alteration vpon occasion ; as when armes are dearer in time of warre , then in time of peace : victuals in time of famine : wood in winter , and water in desert places , and such like . seeing then that plentie of money maketh not onely the commodities of a countrie deare , but that they are also nerui bellorum , the sinewes of warre ; euery prince is to haue a singular care for the preseruation and augmentation therof : especially those princes that haue no mines of gold or siluer within their dominions , or such as haue had them , and are now without them . the gold was wont to come much out of the mountaines of boheme , and riuers of pannonia and swaden . out of spaine , there was wont to come both out of the riuers and monntaines aboue 20 thousand pound weight yearely , which is all exhausted : then it came from the west indies , first from santo domingo and other places , where it doth also cease : now it commeth from peru by certaine millions , which will also take an end . the siluer is brought also frō the west indies , and was much found in germanie : but is now in many places drawne out . the most noble kings of this realm haue alwaies had a singular care to accumulate treasure ; deeming therfore , that it was neither expedient nor conuenient for them to suffer the transportation of their monies or bullion out of the same : as by diuers acts of parliament may be seene , whereby it was made fellonie for the space of many yeares continuing . william the conqueror caused a description to be made of the realme , and the land to be measured , reseruing so much thereof , as he thought conuenient for the crowne : and the rest he deuided amongst his barons and knights , who did pay him therefore a certaine summe of money : whereby he did gather a treasure . henry the second succeeding him within one hundred yeares , hauing had many great warres , and ioyned ireland to the crowne of england , conquering also scotland , and reducing normandie and other places in fraunce to the crowne ; and hauing raigned 35 yeares , had neuer cause to impose any tribute , subsidie or taxe vpon his subiects : and left notwithstanding behind him in treasure 900 thousand pounds ; which in those daies was not only a great matter ( the west indies not being discouered ) but also for that it would make now with vs 27 hūdred thousand pounds , the ounce of siluer being esteemed at fiue shillings , which then was but at twentie pence . edward the third made many good lawes to keepe the treasure within the realme , and for the aduancement of his home commodities , and had a great care , that the forraine commodities , should not ouer-ballaunce his home commodities : knowing that if hee payed more for them , then he made of his commodities , the difference must be made vp and ballanced with the treasure or money of the realme . for hauing brought the working and making of cloth into the realme , he did deuise by all meanes to find vent for the same , obseruing a due course for to preuent the transportation of his money : and that the true value of his money might be answered by exchaunge with the monies of other countries . and forasmuch as the same course of exchange could not be done by a multitude of people so conueniently , ( the most part being ignorant of the true value of the monies of other countries ) he did appoint and ordaine an exchanger , who did make exchaunges with all men for forraine parts , according to value for value , and specie for specie , proceeding in all things most orderly , as may appeare also by that : a sacke of wooll containeth 13 tods according to the lunar moneths of the yeare , euery tod 4 nayles for the 4 weekes to the moneth , and so 52 weekes in the yeare : euery nayle 7 pounds to the 7 daies of the weeke , and so 28 dayes for the moneth , as 28 pounds for a tod : and in all 364 pounds for so many dayes of the yeare . richard the second hauing an especiall regard to the ouer-ballancing of forraine commodities with his home commodities , caused the statute of employment for merchants strangers , to be duly executed . and if they could not sell their commodities within a conuenient time , they were to transport the same againe : and if they made not their returne in commodities , they might deliuer their money by exchange , but onely to the exchaunger by him ordained , and none other . henry the fift confirming the former statutes , caused the staplers to bring into the realme in returne of their wools a great part in bullion , and the statute of employment to be duly executed . and the like was done by other kings . henry the seuenth , in the 3 yeare of his raigne , made an act of parliament for explanation of the former statutes , prohibiting all manner of exchaunge or rechaunge within his realme , or for any forraine parts : and that no person should make any exchange without the kings licence , or of his exchanger according to the statute of richard the second . for in his time the bankers had their beginning , who did inuent the merchandizing exchange , and made of money a merchandize : whereby they found the means to ouer-rule the course of cōmodities , and to aduance the price of their commodities , abating the price of others . but this prudent and politicke king , hauing his coffers stored with standing treasure , did ( for the furtherance of trafficke , and for to aduance the price of his commodities ) lend great summes of mony freely to the merchants . and whereas other nations came into the realme to buy his commodities , which he knew to be staple commodities and of great request , as being most necessarie for the vse of man ; he did inhibite them the buying of any , vnlesse they became bound in recognizance not to carie any to the place , where his subiects kept their marts : and did so qualifie the course of commodities , money and exchange , as he left an incredible wealth and treasure in those dayes , when the west indies were but newly discouered , and an ounce of siluer but valued at 40 pence . henry the 8 in the 18 yeare of his raigne , perceiuing the price of money continually to rise beyond the seas , after remission made vnto the archduke of burgundie , and no reformation ensuing , caused the angell noble to be valued from 6 shillings 8 pence , vnto seuen shillings 6 pence : wherby an ounce of siluer was worth fiue and fortie pence : afterwards requested the duchesse to value his angell at a higher rate , as is before shewed , which was cleane contrarie . and then cardinall wolsey obtained a patent to alter the valuation of money , as he should see cause from time to time . in the 22 yeare of his raigne , the king being informed , that diuerse nations brought abundance of forraine commodities into his realme , and fearing an ouerballancing of commodities ( for that those nations receiuing readie monie for their commodities , which mony they euer deliuered by exchange vnto other merchants , & neuer employed the same on the commodities of the realme ; wherby his maiestie was hindred in his customes , and the commodities of the realme lesse vented ) he caused a proclamation to be made according to the former statutes , that no person should make any exchange contrarie to the true meaning of the said statutes , vpon paine to be taken the kings mortall enemie , and to forfeit all that he might forfeit : which tooke place but for a short time , because the wars brought all things out of order . so that at last the base mony was coyned , which being done without any order , brought diuerse inconueniences to the realme . edward the sixt did crie downe those base monies of his father , and caused new money to be coyned , according to the auncient standard of the realme , and did also prohibite very seuerely the transportation thereof by proclamations : albeit they proued fruitlesse , as they haue done in her maiesties time . by this briefe collection is to be seene , the great care these noble princes haue had , to the end they should not find themselues and their kingdome without treasure of gold & siluer , drawne by meanes of their cōmodities : and to auoid not to fall into that error of the french king charls the ninth ; who after the massacre of paris finding the treasure of his realm exhausted , and his subiects wealth to consist more of plate then of readie money , was aduised by some , that vnder colour of the suppressing of pride , it were good to take a course to prescribe euery man , what store of plate he should keepe according to his degree and qualitie , and the rest to bee conuerted into money . others were of opinion , that it would not onely breed a discontentment vnto his subiects , but a derogation and dishonor of the kings reputation ; seeing that the estate of a prince doth as much consist by reputation as by strength : wherefore like good polititians did aduise the king to embase his money , which wold cause the same not to be transported , and the plate to be of course conuerted into mony . which was done accordingly , and had also that effect : sauing that where they thought money would not be transported , they foūd thēselues deceiued . for the course of exchange was not looked into by them , which did cause a gaine to be had vpon the mony , and so long as the gaine remained , it was still transported : whereby at last he lost the plate of the realme being conuerted into money , as well as he had lost his money before that time . m. bodine doth shew by diuers exāples , that there was not so much siluer & gold in times past 300 yeares ago , as there is now , he might wel haue said in 100 yeares and lesse : howbeit this generall examination is to smal purpose . for euery cōmonwealth is to make a particular examinatiō , whether they do proportionably participate of the general abundance or plentie of gold and siluer found now adaies , and not by cōparing the same vnto the quantitie of times past : for so should they be deceiued . and we neede not to proue , that there is now more gold and siluer then in times past ; for it is cleare in euery mans iudgement . and euen of very late yeares , we find recorded in our chronicles of england , that during the gouernment of the most victorious king henry the eight in the 14 yeare of his raigne in a parliament then holden , the whole substance of london was not taken to be worth 20 hundred thousand pounds : this citie being the head of the realm where the wealth is heaped vp , as the corne of a field into a barne . and in the yeare following , vpon the demaund of a subsidie of foure shillings of the pound , it was proued that the same demaund ( amounting to 800 thousand pounds ) was more then all the readie money and plate of the realm came vnto , which was out of the kings hands : and yet did amount but to about one hundred marke a parish , not reckoning so many parishes as machiauell hath done ; but only about 12 thousand in the whole realme : the spatious countrie of fraunce containing but 27400 parishes . which readie money and plate of the realme would be now adaies found farre differing , and much more , and yet not proportionable to the abundance of gold and siluer found in other countries : and as we may see , that maister bodine hath noted of the city of paris , and of the many millions which haue come from the west indies ; whereby the realme should be stored with sufficient treasure and wealth . for as he called their salt to be a manna : so may we call our cloth , lead & tinne , which be our staple commodities most necessarie for the behoofe of man. and therefore ought this with vs to be the first cause of the increase of the wealth of the realme , the rather for that in the second cause , which maister bodine noteth to be the increase of people : we are not proportionably inferiour vnto them , as we may iudge by diuerse causes : namely , first , for the mariage of the cleargie . secondly , by the people driuen into the realme for religion by the wars of other countries . thirdly , the seldome plague or mortalitie . fourthly , the seldome famine . fiftly , the small warres of countries adiacent or forraine warres , hauing had no ciuill wars at home . and sixtly , the vntimely mariages of both men and women now adaies . whereby colonies might be spared for the inhabiting of other dominions , as heretofore was once taken in hand . the third cause concerning the trade for turkie and barbarie , is not onely common with vs for those countries : but also with diuers other countries , where the french men haue no trade at all . and as for their bankes of money , they would rather be preiudicial and impouerish the realme , ( as they are vsed ) then do any good , as is sufficiently declared in our treatise of exchanges : which other nations will find in time , and most especially princes that haue occasion to vse them , and might well auoid them ; if a due care were had for the accumulating of a standing and yet a running treasure within such bounds , as would stil ebbe and flow for the good of princes and their commonwealth . concerning monopolies , it is strange that maister bodine doth with such breuitie passe ouer thē , shewing onely what he meaneth thereby according to the etimologie , true sense and definition of the word : when merchants , artificers , or labourers do assemble themselues to set a price vpon commodities , which one man alone may also count when he buyeth vp all , that is to be had of one kind of merchandize , to the end he alone may sell the same at his pleasure . the engrossing , forestalling , or incorporating of any commodities or victuals , is intollerable in any common-wealth , vnlesse that the trade of those cōmodities would decay , if a kind of incorporation were not vsed . for whē the cōmon-people do buy generally things deare ; they can generally also sel their cōmodities dere accordingly : but when some particular things are deare , they cannot do so . now as the effects of al monopolies is to make the price of cōmodities dere : so must the price of things in this regard be considered betweene our home cōmodities , & the price of forrain : which if we will but examine within the cōpasse of 50 years , that our monies haue bene without alteration , as is before expressed : we shall easily procure the great error or malice of those that do accuse the cōpanie of merchants aduenturers to be a monopoly ; which false imputation may be reproued by by this only , that all forrain cōmodities are dearer then our home commodities : which are not risen in price accordingly , & yet of late years are for the most part amended in the making & the other impaired : and one sort of cloth is sold at one time beyond the seas by 2 , 3 , 4 , or more pounds differing in a packe one from another : neither haue the merchants aduenturers the trade of cloth onely in their own hands . for diuers other cōpanies of merchants are priuiledged , and do transport great quantitie of clothes into forraine parts , as well as they ; and it is free for all straungers that are in league with her maiestie to buy cloth & to transport the same at their pleasure . which reasons do concerne the effects of monopolie . whereas for the manner of their trafficke , whereby euery man tradeth particularly and apart with his owne stocke , selleth by his own factor or seruant , with diuers other reasons : we will referre our selues to that which their secretarie hath written of late , in defence of their good orders and constitutions . concluding , that as their trade is the most important , and as in all traffickes the vniuersall doth gouerne the particular : so the dissolution of that societie would be the vndoing of al the trade , and bring a great confusion to the realme . for albeit , that some would haue other nations to come and buy the cōmodities of vs within the realm : for , say they , there is ( according to the prouerbe ) twenty in the hundred difference betweene vvill you buy ? and will you sell ? these men haue no consideration for the maintenance of nauigatiō , which is the greatest strength of the realme : whose defence ( next vnder god ) consisteth most in ships and well experienced mariners , that most carefully are to be prouided for . whereas also the transporting of our cloth to certaine places , doth cause other nations to resort thither to buy them : which may be more properly called to be , vvill you sell ? seeing that those nations doe bring their owne commodities vnto our merchants to the places by them appointed , which is in effect as much as , vvill you buy ? and would not this be , vvil you buy ? if in a dispersed and stragling manner our cloth were caried to al markets be yond the seas in seuerall places ? which would take away the desire of buying : for he that buyeth , doth it in hope of sale with a gain to the places where he intendeth to carrie the commoditie . which commoditie , if hee knoweth to be extant in most places to be vented ; will quench his desire of buying : and he that commeth to barter other commodities for ours , hath also the like cōsideration . but let vs admit , that our cloth would be aduanced in price , when men shold ( by multitudes ) runne to the markets , or into the countrey in all places to buy it : what would be the euent of it ? it would not onely be sold beyond the seas with a smaller gaine , and many times to losse : ( wee being naturally inclined to make speedie returnes ) but we should also pay dearer for the forraine commodities , which we should obtaine by way of permutation , or for the billes obligatorie of the merchants to whom we should sell our cloth . and if our merchants were cut off , and that other nations should buy the cloth within the realme , and so aduaunce the price therof ( as it hapneth most commonly in fraunce and spaine at the vintage time with their wines and raisins ) then forraine commodities would be sold dearer vnto vs by them againe . for the small gaine had vpon our home commodities causeth vs , and would cause them to seeke a better gaine vpon the forraine commodities , to the generall hurt of the realme , and to the exhausting of our monies which ( to ballance the matter ) must supply the same . so that the enhauncing of the price of cloth in this manner would be but an imaginarie gaine , and bring in the end an exceeding losse to the generall commonwealth : whose welfare is to be preferred before any particular cōmodity of any member therof . and it were to be wished , that labourers and workmens wages were augmented , although our cloth should cost so much the dearer , as we haue noted elsewhere : and that with great regard the poore people were set on worke , and ( by way of corporation ) their handiworke were vented ; which ( without incurring the compasse of monopolie ) is very commendable in all commonwealths , and vsed in many countries . lastly , that the statutes concerning the maintenance of nauigation were duly executed . the third cause ( saith maister bodine ) is the want of things , proceeding of the excessiue trade of things , or by the wast thereof . touching the trade of any particular commodities of the realme we may well passe ouer , as he doth , and make onely our stay with the trade for corne . which if it were guided with that due consideration , both for preseruation and transportation , as is requisite ; would make plain the prouerbe ( fraunce cannot be famished ) to be more incident and proper to the realme of england , then to the realme of fraunce : because that proportionably we haue more fertile ground for corne , and that in all places of the kingdome , then fraunce hath but in some places . for those countries where the vines do grow , are vnapt for corne , and must haue their prouision from the countries adiacent , and many times out of england : when our corne is thither transported , being with vs too good cheap in regard of their wines and other commodities . the cōparison wherof being made , and the goodnesse of our corne regarded , will make manifest , that to sell our wheate for thirtie shillings the quarter , and other grains after the rate , is good cheape : and that the prince notwithstanding may impose a great custome or licence for the transportation therof , which transportation might be done moderately , and according to the quantitie extant , and for so much therof as might conueniently be spared , if the magistrate and those that are in authoritie had the rule of the market , in such sort as the venetians haue ; who by the means of the iustices of euery prouince , do know little more or lesse the quantity of corne in all places : whereupon certaine substantiall men are appointed from time to time to haue a consideration of the quantitie or scarcitie therof ; which quantitie being known and in what places , may be a direction to those that are in authoritie , to consider what the realme may spare , hauing a regard to the season of the yeare , and making the price accordingly . and when the price of corne is limited and made knowne in writing in certaine publike places on euery monday of the weeke : all ingrossers , forestallers or others , that buy corne to sell againe , are preuented , because that the price thereof is not in their owne power , but by the direction of those honest men rated at all times according to the quantitie , and as the haruest is distant , or at hand , which is so notified vnto all men , as aforesaid . whereby the execution of the law for the making of the loues of bread is duly obserued , without any trouble vnto the magistrate . for the baker knoweth how to make his loues and of what waight , deliuering the same according to the true waight by those men appointed , vnto any man that doth call for it : which the poore doth so well obserue ( for that his indigence giueth him cause ) that without troubling any officer , he is sure to haue his penni-worth : and if he shold find it wanting of his waight , presently with the assistance of an officer , ( as it were ) the constable , he doth seaze vpon all the bakers bread then extant , and taketh the one moitie for him , and the other for the poore of the hospitals . and who would buy corne to sell againe , being debarred not to sell at his pleasure or with gain , and vncertaine what the price will be made by others ? and what baker is he that would make his loaues of a lesser waight , when he must sell them by waight as aforesaid ? by these meanes is corne brought to the market , and none may be sold but in the market , and the clerke of the market taketh notice therof : and what is by licence transported , is done vpon due knowledge , and without defrauding the prince of his custome . to haue many store-houses in seuerall places of the realme in the principall townes , is most conuenient for the preseruation of corn ; which when need requireth , may be prouided from forrain countries , when the vnseasonable times cause vs to haue scarcitie or want therof notwithstanding all the industrie and care of man. concerning the immoderate vse of forraine commodities in wearing and wasting , by cutting and putting into seuerall strange new fangled fashions , we doe referre the examination thereof vnto those that haue authority to reprehend men of their actions : wishing reformation where things are amisse . and albeit , that gay and sumptuous apparell is a demonstration of pride , yet a country clowne may be as proude in a frize coat , as a gentleman in a veluet gown . for pride harboureth in the mind , and the difference is onely in the giuing of example vnto others : wherein the costly and gorgeous apparell giueth offence , which may be handled hereafter . concluding therefore this point with maister bodine touching allume ( whereof abundance is spent with vs ) we say that there is stuffe sufficient within the realme , whereof to make it exceeding good : but so long as we be able to affoord the romish allume for 24 shillings the hundred , and other sorts accordingly , being brought into english ships , it is better for the common-wealth to bring it from forraine parts , then to make it within the realme . the fourth cause of the dearth of things , being the pleasure of princes or great men , which doth giue a price vnto things ; is grounded vpon estimation , the very ground of the value of all temporall things : which things in regard of the behoofe of man , are seruing for food , houses , and apparell , and ( as they say ) for the backe and belly . this estimation is authorised by common consent almost of al men and nations : and therefore of such efficacie , that some politicians haue obserued , that things that be in d 〈…〉 things that be not in deed , b 〈…〉 med to be in deede , make n 〈…〉 rence in the course of trafficke . 〈…〉 rule the bankers , haue studie 〈…〉 〈…〉 might be made apparant , if i we 〈…〉 solued that it would tend to the g 〈…〉 of the commonwealth . but leauing this , let vs consider of the second rule obserued by plato , that as the prince is , so are the subiects , who by imitation follow his example , which sooner entreth into their eyes thē their eares : and the greater their authoritie is , the more affectionate is their imitation . alexander cast his head aside , and all the court held their neckes awry : denis was purblind , and his courtiers stumbled at euery steppe , and iustled each other as if they had bene euill-fighted : and so of other princes , whose examples haue bene contagious to their subiects . maister bodine maketh mention of three great prin 〈…〉 〈…〉 ne time , which did aduaunce 〈…〉 g and pretious stones . tou 〈…〉 〈…〉 arning , vnlesse it be accom 〈…〉 with the knowledge how to 〈…〉 r to hauewealth , it is litle accoun 〈…〉 whereas a lumpish blocke-head 〈…〉 le without wit or wisedome , shall be much made of , onely because hee hath money or wealth ; whereof by aduerse fortune or casualtie being depriued , he is then seene in his owne colour , and laid open to the world . and concerning pearles and precious stones , it is not straunge , that some men do despise and account them as glistering toyes & trifles , considering the diuersitie of mens opinions , which made the auncient philosophers to say : that the world was gouerned by opinions . but if these men should wel consider the pure creation and vertue of the stones , they would iudge otherwise ; and their owne opinion ( opposite to most men ) would condemne their errour : seeing that a generall estimation doth approue the value of things , especially of things that are durable . which was the cause that when commodities began to abound in the world , all mettals ( as being fit for preseruation ) were esteemed , and the purest mettall most . the holy scripture doth manifest vnto vs , in what estimation precious stones , gold , and siluer , haue bene alwaies from the beginning : and to what holy vses they haue bene employed and appropriated , especially gold and siluer . was not iericho destroyed with the inhabitants and their goods by gods commandement , as things execrable : and would not god haue the gold and other mettals preserued , and to be consecrated and kept in his treasurie ? was it not gold and siluer wherewith his temple at ierusalem was adorned and beautified ? but why should i enter into the enumeration of examples , to illustrate and proue the antiquitie of the estimation of gold , siluer , and precious things : seeing that in all common-weales and countries , that onely is decent and of estimation , which the custome doth allow or approoue ? hence the prouerbe took beginning , countries fashion , countries honour : which maketh the indian and blacke-moore to dominiere with his glistering beades , brasse rings for their eares and armes , and to giue vs gold and siluer for them . straunge was therefore the imagination of sir thomas moore in his conceipted commonwealth of vtopia : where he fained gold to be in such contumelie , that they made their chamber-pots and other vessels that serue for most vile vses , of pure gold ; and haue the same in euery mans priuate house . and their chaines , fetters and gyues wherein they tye their bondmen , were all of gold , as being the reprochfull badge of infamous persons . their gemmes and precious stones were holden for toyes for yong children to play withall . and to proue the estimation of things to be according to the fashion of euery countrie , and to giue gold his due commendation , we will vse his owne pleasant tale , in manner as he hath set downe the same . the ambassadours of the next countries vnto vtopia , which knew the maners and fashions of the vtopians ( which giue no honour to sumptuous apparell , and hold gold to be infamed and reprochfull ) came to amaurote ( the principall citie of that ile ) in very homely and simple array . but the anemolians because they dwell farre thence , and had very litle acquaintance with them , hearing that they were all apparelled alike , and that very rudely and homely ; thinking them not to haue the things which they did not weare : being therefore more proud then wise , determined in the gorgiousnesse of their apparell to represent very gods ; and with the bright shining and glistering of their gay clothing , to dazle the eyes of the silly poore vtopians . so there came in foure ambassadors , with a hundred seruants , all apparelled in changeable colours , the most of them in silkes : the ambassadors themselues ( for at home in their owne countrie they were noblemen ) in cloth of gold , with great chaines of gold , with gold hanging at their eares , with gold rings vpon their fingers , with brouches and aglets of gold vpon their caps , which glistered full of pearles and precious stones : to be short , trimmed and adorned with all those things , which among the vtopians were either the punishment of bondmen , or the reproch of infamed persons , or else trifles for young children to play withall . therefore it would haue done a man good at his heart , to haue seene how proudely they displayed their peacockes feathers , how much they made of their painted sheathes , and how lustily they set foorth and aduanced themselues ; when they compared their gallant apparell with the poore rayment of the vtopians : for all the people were swarmed foorth into the streetes . and on the other side , it was no lesse pleasure to consider how much they were deceiued , and how farre they missed of their purpose , being contrarie waies taken , then they thought they should haue beene . for to the eyes of all the vtopians ( except very few , which had bene in other countries for some reasonable cause ) all that gorgeousnesse of apparell seemed shamefull and reprochfull . insomuch that they most reuerently saluted the most vile and most abiect of them for lords , iudging them by their wearing of golden chaines to be bondmen : yea , you should haue seen children also ( that had cast away their pearles and precious stones , when they saw the like sticking vpon the ambassadors cappes ) digge and push their mothers vnder the sides , saying thus to them : looke mother , how great a lubber doth yet weare pearles and precious stones , as though hee were a litle child still . but the mother , yea and that also in good earnest : peace sonne ( saith she ) i thinke he be some of the ambassadours fooles . some found fault at their golden chaines , as to no vse or purpose , being so small and weake , that a bondman might easily breake them : and againe so wide and large , that when it pleased him , he might cast them off , and runne away at libertie whither he would . but when the ambassadours had bene there a day or two , and saw so great abundance of gold so lightly esteemed ; yea in no lesse reproch , thē it was with them in honour : and besides that , more gold in the chaines and gyues of one fugitiue bondman , then all the costly ornaments of them three was woorth ; they beganne to abate their courage , & for very shame laid away all that gorgeous array , whereof they were so proud . which in effect is as much as to accommodate and fashion himselfe to the manner and fashion of the countrie , being also grounded vpon estimation although of baser things : which is to preferre earthen and glasse vessels , wherein they eate and drinke ( as he saith ) before gold , siluer , & other precious things . but if all the wit and wisdome of man were as yet to deuise , what thing would be fittest to set a price vnto all other things , and to be as a iust measure and proportion betweene man and man in the trade and traffick of things , they could not find any thing more proper then pure gold , and other mettals accordingly . the foure elements haue such an equall proportion in gold , that none is predominant ouer the other ; whereby all corruption is excluded , whether you take the same according to the qualities of hote and drie , cold and drie , hote and moist , and cold and moist with galen : or according to the substance of the elements drawne into salt , sulphure , and mercurie with paracelsus . for it neuer wasteth or consumeth by fire , and the more it is burned , the purer it is ; which cannot be said of any other mettall : there is no rust or scurfe that diminisheth the goodnesse or substance thereof : it abides the fretting and liquors of salt and vineger without damage , which weareth any other thing : it needs no fire ere it be made gold , for it is gold assoone as it is found : it draweth without wooll , as it were wooll : and it is easily spread in leaues of maruellous thinnesse : you may adorne or guild any other mettall with it . neither is it inferiour vnto any other mettall to make vessell and curious workes : it defileth not the thing it toucheth as siluer doth , wherewith you may draw lines : it resembleth in colour the celestiall bodies , and it is medicinable and bringeth gladnesse to the hart of man : it is fit also to be cut or deuided into many peeces to make mony , and goeth into a litle roome , being easie and 〈…〉 table to auoide the combersome 〈…〉 age of commodities from one countrie into another . and what thing can be inuented or deuised , that for this purpose hath all these qualities and properties ? with great reason therefore hath gold his due estimatiō aboue other things . also such things wherein the art of man is illustrated ; as in pictures & other curious works , are worthie of great commendation , and to be preferred before many other things that man doth vse , for to liue in the most ciuille maner aboue other nations which liue barbarously . in all which , the generall care of the prince must be , and the particular regard of the subiect , that the same bee done for the good of the common-wealth : so that the expences thereof do not surmount the incomes or reuenues , hauing a due consideration of the moderate vse of forraine commodities , and at reasonable rates , according as the price and vtteranc 〈…〉 of our home commodities , both 〈…〉 victuals and other wares : without studying how to liue without the trafficke and commerce with other nations ; seeing that god caused nature to bestow and distribute her benefits , or his blessings to seuerall climates , supplying the barrennesse of some things in one countrie with the fruitfulnesse and store of other countries , to the end that interchāgeably one cōmon weale should liue with another . concerning the last cause of the dearth of things by the alteration of mony , wherein maister malestroit had a certaine good purpose if he could haue proued the same to haue bene in france : maister bodine concludeth that the price of things is not altered by the valuation of monies in sort by him alleaged , and yet that things are grown deare : which only thē cometh to passe by one cause , which he called almost the only cause , which is the aundance of gold & siluer of late yeares running with vs into these parts of the world . for the other causes ( as we haue noted before ) make particularly some things deare , but not generally all things . and for asmuch as we haue spoken hereof in answer of the paradoxes of maister malestroit , therefore we passe ouer it : and come to the examination of the remedies which maister bodine alleadgeth which do onely tend to remedy things in particular , being well considered of . he saith , that the abundance of gold and siluer now a daies more then in times past , must partly excuse the dearth of things : which being so , it followeth , that this is not to be taken as a remedy , nor yet as a true cause of the dearth of things ; for what coherence is there to alleage a matter as a remedy against the dearth of things , when this remedy ( as i haue shewed before ) is the only cause of the dearth it selfe ( as he saith ) which must excuse the same ? which excuse being admitted in defence thereof : doth consequently proue , that things are not growne deare to our hurt in particular , or to the preiudice of the common wealth in generall , because that hauing more gold and siluer then we had heretofore , we are made able to giue more then before . and if we will say : take away the cause , and then the effect will cease , that is to say ; take away or diminish the abundance of gold and siluer , and then things will become better cheape : this wold be a very great absurdity . for as he is a foolish phisitian , that cannot cure his patients disease , vnlesse he cast him in another sicknes : so the prince that cannot gouerne his subiects but by taking from them the wealth and commodity of life , must needs graunt that he knoweth not how to gouerne mē . a prouident and wise prince therefore will rather conclude thus : are things growne deare , through the abundance of gold and siluer of late yeares ? then is it most requisite for me to procure to participate of that abundance , as much as lieth in my power , and to accumulate treasure for me and my subiects by importation of gold and siluer , and preuention of the transportation of any : the rather that the course of commodities in particular hath this property , that as by the excessiue exportation of some things , the like things do grow deare : so by the ouerabundant importation of other commodities things do become better cheape . another remedy against the dearth of things , especially victuals is to restore the vse of fish to the ancient credit and estimation : and hereupon he taketh occasion to commend our custome of england for obseruing fish-dayes in the weeke . and for effecting of the like in fraunce : he propoundeth the example of the prince and magistrate whom the people will imitate . we may wish that both the one and the other were duly executed or obserued , whereby fishing would be better maintained , and most especially the nauigation : and flesh would in some seasons of the yeare be vsed more commodiously , and better for the health of man. the great number of all sorts and kinds of fish according to the obseruation of the romaines ( noted by maister bodine ) ought to moue vs thereunto ; fish being so pure a creature , that were it not , that we see the same subiect vnto diseases , it wold be very doubtfull , whether the same amongst other creatures was cursed for mans transgression , the scripture speaking only that the earth was cursed therefore : considering also the prouerbe , as sound as a fish : and if any be subiect to diseases it is fish of riuers or of standing waters and fish-ponds , which may be cured by strawing much parsley into the water . and because that flesh and fish are two principall things for the food of man , and that our purpose is not to omit any thing , that incidently may be handled for the good of the common-wealth , therefore will it not be exorbitant the rule of our methode to discourse somewhat thereof . the best season of the yeare to eate fish is from september vntill march , if we will regard the goodnesse of the fish : howbeit that for the increase of beasts , we are commanded with great reason and consideration , to eate most fish in march and aprill , when he loseth his taste . the fresh fish of riuers is of more digestion , and better for sicke persons ; but the sea-fish is of more nourishment . all fish being moist and cold of nature , is qualified by the addition of salt : and being eaten with much bread cannot do any hurt , especially vnto cholericke persons , with whose complexion it agreeth best . and whereas all other creatures do first decay and putrifie in the belly , the fish doth first putrifie in the head : for no other reason , but that hauing only one gut , the meate doth easily passe the same , without digestion or corruption ; which by staying long with other ereatures causeth putrifaction : an argument that fish is more healthfull then flesh , howbeit that ( through the continuall vse ) flesh is more agreeable with our nature . and whereas maister bodine saith that it is vnknowne vnto man , from whence at one season the infinite millions of herrings do come : we are of another opinion . for the herring ( against the nature of all fish , which goeth against the water and tide , fearing the lifting vp of his scales ) commeth from the northerne seas , and goeth to the west ocean to enioy the temperature of the aire . for whereas all the sommer he hath taken his ease and pleasure in the northerne seas , desirous to enioy the water therof , as being sweeter then that of other seas : he returneth in winter to those places , that haue bene most beaten of the sunne , being hotter and deeper , as also lesse troubled with the winds and tempests ; vnto the which the northerne seas are more subiect , & where the sands are thereby eleuated , and concurring with the water . for the herring aboue all other fishes cannot endure the cold , and therfore are they also dead as soone as they be out of the water . aire is the cause of putrification , which those that haue studied to preserue flesh long without salt , haue found by experience . salt doth bite out the bloud of the flesh , which we see will not keepe vnlesse it be couered with brine made of salt : yet those that do trauell vnder the line called aequinoctiall , do keepe fresh mutton , veale , or any other flesh for a long time without salt ; for they presse out the bloud , and hauing well dried the same with linnen clouts , they put it into their barrels of meale , especially meale of rie , as it commeth from the east contries , and so they do closevp the same , that no aire can enter : which is an easie matter , and their meale not the worse for to be vsed . some do also a litle perboile their flesh , and keepe it close stopped in vineger : but that is not so sauory to be eaten . the knowledge hereof is fit for nauigators . but for the good of all the inhabitants of a commonwealth , let vs commend the singular care of those magistrats which ( to preuent all corruption and diseases of euill aire and corrupted bloud ) do commaund , that oxen and all other beasts should be fasting a day or two before they should be slaine : and then hanged vp for the like time , or more , as the season of the yeare will permit , to let the blod runne out before the butchers may sell the flesh thereof ; who knowing the losse of waight by the bleeding , and that it doth not shew so well , are hasty to sell the same to the great hurt and danger of the health of man. this care of the magistrate therefore tendeth to the preseruation of the health of the subiect . and to this purpose we do not hold impertinent to commend a good order obserued in other countries , for keeping of their cities and townes cleane without hauing so many scauengers in euery parish , as we do , to the great charge of the inhabitants . for whereas the cleansing of all vaults is brought to certaine places and vsed for dung , there are certaine three or foure scauengers which for two or three hundred pounds a yeare take the same , and the durt of the streetes to farme and do euery one of them keepe twelue or more horses and carts to cary the durt away : which by scattering straw along the streetes from time to time is gathered vp , and so caried to the places where the cleansing of the vaults is mingled with it , which maketh good dung , and is caried all the countrey ouer ; preuenting hereby corruption of aire , & bettering their grounds for increase . his last point concerning certainty and equality of money , which may hold the price of commodities and all other things in a certaine equality by a due course of exchange , is a matter of great moment , as we haue shewed heretofore : which maister bodine holdeth so difficult to be vnderstood , that when any man is sayd to be of experience , and to vnderstand matters wherein he is surpassing others ; that hence the prouerbe is deriued , that one doth vnderstand his par , or equalitie : be it in matter of exchange or monies , whereby the course of commodities is ruled . but this cannot properly be taken as a remedy against the dearth of things , for it doth keepe a due equality in the price of all things , and maketh not any alteration . so that we may conclude as before , that maister bodine hauing mistaken the true ground of the matter he intreated of : the remedies by him propounded are also incertaine . for as we haue said before , we are not in this regard to compare things within themselues in the common-wealth where we do liue : but betweene vs and other nations with whom we deale or traffike , either by way of permutation of commodities for commodities , or commodities for money in specie , or by exchange . therefore let vs examine the course of commodities , money and exchange : whereby the wealth of a realme may increase or decrease . riches ( as aristotle hath defined ) are either naturall or artificiall . and plato ( before he did reuoke his opinion concerning equalitie , when he willed al things in a commonwealth to be common , whereby euery man might haue enough : and in regard of these words mine and thine , wherby the propertie of things is distinguished ) did vse to say : that there was no man that did gaine , but another was a loser : supposing both the naturall and artificiall riches to be appertaining and proper to some ▪ that were owners thereof . wherein he did note a kind of absurditie at that time , in regard of his purpose . but afterwards hauing had a due consideration of far greater absurdities that wold happen , if ( to auoide strife and contention ) goods were common , and consequently women and children ; wherby families ( whereof commonweals are compounded ) wold be dissolued and ouerthrowne : he did wisely reuoke his former opinion , holding the matter to be impossible and incompatible . for there can be no common-wealth without a priuate wealth ; whereby these two words , mine and thine , were restored to their former and auncient credite : which all good housholders or fathers of families are to consider in particular , & the prince as the father of the great familie of a commonwealth in generall , as well touching the natural riches of lands , as of the artificiall riches proceeding of the same , and to make and moderate his charges and expences accordingly . to which end , first in regard of naturall riches , the knowledge of his dominions and territories is requisite to be considered of , being compared with other princes dominions , which oftentimes are accounted to be more spacious then they bee . by reason whereof , we haue made this geometricall description following , whereby the spaciousnesse of one kingdome or countrey , may be compared with another , obseruing onely the difference of the number . a geometricall description of the world . the circumference of the globe , which according to the imaginarie accompt of ptolomy , containeth 360 geometricall degrees of 15 leagues euery degree , maketh in the whole 5400 leagues , which we do reckon after one thousand measures of land for euery league of foure english miles , or 60 miles for a degree . the diameter being 1718 2 / 11 leagues , making the superficies both of water and land 9278 thousand , 181 leagues , euery league being 4666⅔ measures square : which maketh the whole globe of the world to containe 43 millions of millions , 298 millions , 170 thousand measures of land and water : whereof the water being deducted , accoumpting aboue two third parts of the whole , and the other third for the earth ; there remaineth ( not accompting fractions and vnnecessarie numbers ) nine millions of millions , 381 millions , 627 thousand measures of land , knowne to be inhabited : wherof followeth a particular distribution vpon euery kingdome and countrie , with a note of their situation . beginning our voyage from england the most renowned iland in the world , and trauelling all the world ouer ( which by water may be compassed in one yeare and a halfe ) as may be seene by the globe set foorth at the charges of maister sanderson , by the voyages of sir francis drake , and sir thomas candish knights : we find england with the ilands adiacent vnder her maiesties dominion , to containe 34 millions 438 thousand measures of land , after the computation aforesaid . ireland the iland which lieth most west of those that be of any fame , containeth 21 millions 785 thousand measures . scotland being adioyned to england containeth 12 millions 250 thousand measures . the most westerne countrey of europe is spaine : which is bounded the south with the mediterranean sea : on the west with the atlanticke : on the north with the oceanus cantabricus , or the spanish seas : & on the east with fraunce , from which it is seuered with the pireney hils . vnder spaine we reckon the eight kingdoms following : castile containing 31 , 886. m. andaluzia 3 , 700. m. granado 3 , 150. m. nauarre 1 , 868. m. portugal 12 , 600. m. leon gallicia 9 , 520. m. arragon 16 , 760. m. biscay 4 , 666. m.   all , 84 , 150. m. measures of land . fraunce , which is bounded on the west with the pirency hilles : on the north with the english seas : on the east with germanie : on the southeast with the alpe hilles : and on the southwest with the mediterranean sea : containing 32 prouinces . normandie 2 , 022. m. campagney 1 , 785. m. xantogne 1 , 791. m. poitou 2 , 644. m. berry 1 , 437. m. limogis 140. m. picardie 1 , 307. m. anjou 840. m. calis 46. m. bulleyn 135. m. languedoc 2 , 240. m. dauphiney 900. m. burgundie 757. m. prouence 1 , 178. m. vermandois 116. m. and vienois , lionois , gascoine , france , lorreyne , britayne , guien , nivernois , bourbon , auverne , velay , pierigueux , viemois , and the rest : containing all 91 , 350. m. measures . the next countrey vnto fraunce on the east side is germany , which is bounded on the west with fraunce , and the low countries : on the north with denmarke and the danish seas : on the east with prussia , poland , and hungarie : on the southeast with istria and illiricum : and the south with the alpe hils and with italie . vnder saxonie . saxonia 3 , 750. m. misnia 3 , 360. m. turingia 1 , 120. m. vnder austria . lusatia 2 , 614. m. slesia 5 , 558. m. bohemia 7 , 000. m. austria 6 , 300. m. morauia 4 , 200. m. beyeren 3 , 360. m. assia 3 , 947. m. heluetia 12 , 585. m. basle and swetia 2 , 992. m. wirtenbergh 1 , 270. m. embden 244. m. collen 214. m. salsburie 1 , 089. m. cleues 257. m. gulich 357. m. westphalia 2 , 450. m. ofnab 357. m. pomerania 3 , 360. m. marquis brandeburgh 6 , 293. m. machalburgh 2 , 100. m. franconia 6 , 440. m. tiroll 3 , 360. m. carinthea 1 , 634. m. stiria 1 , 866. m. count palatin 4 , 450. m. oldeburg & dulmar 462. m. liege 571. m. trier , ments , strasbourgh , spiers , wormes : together 4 , 324. m.   all , 97 , 884. m. measures . the 17 prouinces of the low-countries accompting 550 townes , and 12 thousand villages , bounded on the west with germanie and fraunce consisting of 4 dukedomes , 7 earledomes , and 6 seigniories . brabant 1 , 502. m. guildres 420. m. luxenborgh 1 , 400. m. limborgh and walkenborgh 233. m. flaunders , lyle , and doway 1 , 559. m. henault 1 , 050. m. artois 722. m. holland 572. m. zealand 101. m. ouerysle 840. m. freezeland 464. m. malnies 15. m. namure 196. m. vtricht 227. m. grocninghen 250. m. zutphen 357. m. meiers 35 m. and other places of the empire . 141. m.   all , 10. 049. m. measures . italie , which lyeth on the south-side of the alpes and germanie , and stretcheth it self out in length towards the south & east , may thus be described : vnder spaine . naples 14 , 700. m. lombardie 2 , 100. m. vnder venice . treuisana 3 , 290. m. verona 740. m. frioul 1 , 400. m. mantua 570. m. vnder rome . liguria 1 , 865. m. romagnia 1520. m. latium 570. m. hetruria 642. m. sauoy 2 , 520. m. piamont 2 , 100. m. tuscane florence 6 , 160. m. siena 570. m. marca ancona 1 , 790. m. parma plaisance 2 , 015. m. sicily 4 , 200. m. cyprus 2 , 100. m. candia 2 , 800. m. corsica 1 , 680. m. sardegnia 5 , 600. m.   all , 55 , 580. m. measures . prusia lying on the east & north corner of germany . 11 , 200. m. poland lying on the east side of germanie , containeth 21 , 000. m. russenia 10 , 500. m. volhimia 6 , 300. m. massouia 2 , 098. m. liuonia 30 , 152. m.   all , 70 , 050. m. measures . denmarke lying on the north side of germany , hauing on the north and east side , the kingdome of sweden : & on the north side & west of sweden , lyeth the kingdome of norway , containing all with their dominions , as followeth : denmarke 13 , 643. m. norway 37 , 296. m. sweden 64 , 000. m. finland 8 , 392. m. holsten 1 , 398. m. ditmars 442. m. gothia 23 , 334. m.   all , 148 , 505. m. measures . the great monarchie of russia or moscouia , beginning on the east side of sweden extending it self from lapland and finmarke vnto the caspian sea , containeth in it a great part of europe , and part of asia ; whereof we are to make a deuision , hauing only purposed to make a particular description of europe . that part which is vnder europe containeth 302 , 957. m. measures . so all europe containeth 940 , 198. thousand measures of land . hungarie containing 21 , 000. m. dalmatia 4 , 900. m. transiluania , 7000. m. with whole turky cōtaining 527,100 . m. and moscouia 187,143 . m. tartarie containing 420,000 . m. persia 560,000 . m. and the lands of calicout 840,000 . m. maketh all asia to containe 2567 ▪ 143. m. measures . africa & all egypt 2240,000 . m. america containeth 1674,286 . m. noua spania containeth 1960,000 . m. summa tot . 9 , 381 , 627. m. measures , the whole earth of 1000. measures for a league of 4 english miles . the territorie of rome after the foundation of romulus did containe but 18 thousand iourneys of land , which he did deuide into three equall parts : allotting the one third , as it were ecclesiasticall lands , for the defraying of the sacrifices : the other third to the common wealth , as it were crowne land : and the last third part was deuided betweene three thousand citizens of all sorts , after the rate of two iourneys for euery one . william the conqueror , caused ( after the conquest ) a description to be made of the realme of england , and the land to be measured , reseruing for the crowne so much as he thought conuenient : and bestowing the rest vpon his barons and knights , he caused an imposition or taxe to be made of sixe shillings vpon euery hide of land , being twenty acres , making 160 acres to be a knights fee. and so hauing left the dukedome of normandy vnto robert his eldest sonne , did thereby maintaine his royall estate & dignitie . the grecians had diuerse meanes to maintaine their estate : but the romaines hauing a very large and spatious iurisdiction , had most means by conquest and tribute of other nations . the ordinary meanes that princes haue now a dayes for the maintenance of their royall estates or dignities , may be comprehended vnder these three : the first vpon the estimation of the body of their lands and dominions of all immoueable goods , according to their value by a computation vpon the hundreth , or a proportion of the fruits thereof : which is comprehended vnder natural riches . the second vpon the things which are consumed proceeding thereof : namely of victuals , as of flesh , fish , wine , beare , fruit , and such like : of rents , as of houses and farms , liberties and franchises , manors and townes : of fire , as of wood and coales : of apparell , as of wollen clothes , silkes , furs , flaxe , and such like . the third vpon the trade and trafficke of merchandise , and vpon the persons of men according to their degree and quality . which meanes are increased by the inhabiting of countries and multitude of people : which causeth princes to study to make their countries populous , and to increase the cōmerce & trafficke , by the gaines whereof , the wealth is increased . for albeit , that the multitude of people maketh the price of lands to rise , and victuals to become dearer : yet the prince and the subiects meanes of maintenance do also increase , and one doth liue by another , alwayes so as there be had a singular care to set poore men on work , and that the idle droane do not consume the sweete honey . hereupon two speciall points are incidently to be handled , namely , that as i haue made a commparison of country and countries vnder the dominion of the princes in europe : so is it not very difficult for me to make a comparison of the wealth thereof , and likewise of the ordinary meanes which these princes do vse for the maintenance of their estates , and what ordinary charges and expences they do sustaine : whereby would appeare manifestly , that england is able to hold out with any kingdome in europe . but fearing the reprehension of some apelles ( this being a matter of state ) i will containe my selfe within the compasse of my profession . the second part is to delare many and diuerse extraordinary meanes , which princes haue vsed heretofore , and might vse in their necessities and occurrences . but this would proue vnnecessary , considering we do liue vnder so gratious a princesse ( whom god long preserue to raigne ouer vs ) whose most royal disposition and clemency , doth rather moderate impositions and taxes , then inuent any that neuer were : her subiects also being most dutifully obedient , and thankfully inclined to make her maiestie voluntarie offers of subsidies and other meanes for the generall defence of the realme , not expecting that the same should be of them required . yet to giue some glaunce of comparison betweene england & france the greatest kingdome of europe : let vs take notice of the obseruation of polititians , which affirme england properly to be deuided into 52 thousand villages or hamlets , as there are weekes in the yeare : much after the deuision which the athenians made of their land in 365 parts , as there are dayes in the yeare ; and to containe ( as they say ) 2800 thousand families , euery family 6 persons , is 16800 thousand persons : england containing by our computation but 34 millions 438 thousand measures of land square : whereas fraunce containing 91 millions 350 thousand measures of land , is but esteemed to haue 4400 thousand families , and fiue persons to euery family : which is but 22000 thousand persons . the commodities of france are not so rich and of estimation , as the commodities of england : much lesse the commodities of denmarke , russia , poland , and other great countries . wherefore let vs now examine , for the second point concerning artificiall riches , the goodnesse of our commodities . maister bodine doth call ( salt ) to be their manna , and we may call our wools to be the golden fleece , which we shall not need to seeke in colchos , but here in england , in regard both of their goodnesse and quantity . great was the losse and hinderance which the realme receiued by the licence , which king edward the third gaue vnto king iohn of aragon , for to transport into spaine certaine number of cotswold sheep , both in respect of wools and wooll fels . for we see what great quantity of wools ( bettered vnder their climate ) doth continually come from diuerse places of the king of spaines dominions , into fraunce and the low-countries : especially in flaunders , where diuerse fine stuffes are made , and brought vnto vs and other nations , causing a decrease of the custome of the prince , as may be knowne by this : that the custome of wooll in this king edward his time came to aboue threescore and fiue thousand pounds yearely , the ounce of siluer being valued but at 20 pence : which would make now 200 thousand pound . for there went out of the realm at the least a hundred thousand sackes of wooll , whereof were made 300 thousand clothes at the least : whereas there is now computation made of 100000 clothes yearly , or somwhat more , the custome being 35 thousand poūds . wherby we may see manifestly , that there is a great ouer ballancing of forreine commodities with our home commodities , as shall be made more apparant . it is wel knowne , that since the statute made in the sixt yeare of her maiesties most happy raigne , all sorts of white clothes , haue bin amended for length & goodnesse ; likewise kerseys , bayes , cottons , northerne dozens , & diuers other kinds of clothes haue bin bettered since that time : whereas the commodities of other countries haue bene made worse . howbeit it were to be wished , that with vs good order were taken for the continuance thereof : as also that clothiers would deuise to make their clothes after the manner of venice , as it were in hot-houses ; sauing thereby a great part of their oyle for the making of other clothes , which is now wasted and spent : which practise is of late put in vre by the flemmings in some places ; and yet can they not sell their clothes so good cheape , but that our cloth is with thē in great request . for all that merchants ( besides other great charges ) pay vnto them aboue 20 shillings custome and licence for euery cloth to bring them thither , ouer and aboue the charges and custome of the dominions of other princes and states , when cloth is not caried directly vnto them . comming to our other commodities of lead , tinne , copper , iron , bel-mettall , and other minerals , we shall not need to make mention of gold , siluer and copper , because our mynes do not yeeld such quantitie thereof as in other countries , which haue a better temperature of climate to that effect . howbeit , greater store would be found , if men did endeuour to find the same : as for any thing we can as yet learne , one man onely hath bestowed extraordinarie charges therein , as some haue done for the copper , which by their means is found somewhat plentifull : whereby with the addition of the calamine stone , many manuall things are now made within the realme by milles and otherwise , which heretofore were brought vnto vs. and now let vs speake of the particulars , as of lead , tinne , and iron . our lead ( whereof we haue abundance ) doth exceed in goodnesse that of germany and other countries , and containeth more siluer then theirs , which is blacke , harder and vncleane : and therefore serueth them to make peeces of ordinance , whereof the duke of brunswicke hath good store . but iron is farre better for that purpose : and that which is found in other places is not comparable vnto ours , neither hath any prince the like . tinne , a most royall commodity , is exceeding in goodnesse all other tinne found elsewhere , which is but litle , as it is not very abundant with vs. for all our mynes do not yeeld aboue 10 or 12 hundred thousand pound waight yearely at the most ; which in regard of the vse thereof , is and hath bene sold by vs very good cheape , especially in such places from whence wee bring very corruptible cōmodities of wines , raisins , prunes , currans & such like : giuing them this & the like staple cōmoditie for them . we haue noted how of late yeares , gold , siluer , copper , iron , and lead , haue bene found more plentifully then in times past : but we cannot say so of tinne , the vse thereof in turky and other places being considered . by reason whereof , if heretofore the proportion of mettals obserued by the germaines and other nations , was 150 pound waight of copper to one pound of siluer , or 700 pound of iron , 600 p. of lead , or 25 pounds of quicksiluer , and but one hundred p. of tin : much more ought we to diminish this proportion● , considering ( as aforesaid ) the great quantitie of al other mettals found in diuerse places , and but this small parcell of tinne of that rare goodnesse found onely in england : where aboue 80 years past , the price thereof was about forty shillings the hundred , when anounce of siluer was esteemed forty pence , and when the best veluet was sold for ten shillings the yard . and omitting to speake of saltpeter , coppresse , allume , and such like minerals ( whereof wee haue great store ) let vs conclude with the consideration of the great abundance of sea-coles , that are found in england : the price whereof might ( with more reason ) be farre aduaunced aboue the price of salt the manna of fraunce : seeing that ( as maister bodine hath noted of all mines ) the mines hereof can be exhausted , and so cannot salt be , which with lesse labor doth in a manner raine from heauen vnder their climate : the rather for that woods are not onely decreasing with vs , but also with other nations that shall in time haue as much neede of our coales , as we of their salt : wherof the impost in fraunce amounteth to 450 thousand pound starling yearly , as the matter is handled . safforne and cony skins are two commodities exceeding also in goodnesse : likewise corne , beare , fels , tallow , hops , wood , hose , and many other things are all better then the like had in other countries ; and so might leather be , if the lawes did suffer it to be dressed accordingly . for albeit that the difference of water in goodnesse for that purpose maketh an alteration : yet they might be qualified and made seruiceable to that effect . our waxe is also better then that of moscouia and the east countries : and this being a commodity had with little labour , and without the vse of much ground , and of late yeares aduanced in price ; we would exhort many to practise the hauing thereof , in regard both of the honny and waxe , the rather for that the making of bees of a heighfer is naturall . whereupon plinie hath noted , that the flesh of oxē is conuerted into bees , as the flesh of horses into waspes , that of man into lice , and so of other flesh according to the nature thereof : but i will not affirme , that the flesh of a cuckow is conuerted into toads , as some do report . touching the price of our commodities , which certainly may be known as of tinne , lead , and certaine knowne sorts of clothes : we shall find , that when an ounce of siluer was valued at 40 pence , tinne was worth ( as we haue sayd ) about 40 shillings the hundreth , which now maketh 3 pound , and the price thereof in regard of veluet , silkes and other commodities , ought now to be 5 pound a hundreth all circumstances considered . wooll was worth 10 shillings the tod , equivalent with the best yeard of veluet : colour kentish cloths , not of so good making as now , were ordinarily sold for 8 and 9 pound the cloth of that mony which is now 12 pound and 13 pound 10 shillings : calue skins 5 shillings the dozen : deuonshire kersies , and all other cloth accordingly . at which time the bale of venice fustians was sold for 18 pound : of horne fustians 15 pound : the best blacke sattine 6 shillings the yeard : colour damaske and sattine 5 shillings : bolonia sarcenet 20 pence the yeard : all by retaile ; millian fustians 18 and 19 shillings the peece : messina silke 8 shillings the pound : vnwatred chamblet 13 shillings the peece , and all other italian wares accordingly ; which ( although they are now more vsed then in those dayes ) cannot counteruaile the difference in price being compared together , because that the making thereof in italy and france is also much more increased , and on the contrary the making of cloth much diminished since that time . and in this place we must not forget to mention of the making of venice gold thred , which might be more practised and made in england then it is , to set poore people on worke , and so be had farre better cheape . for we shall find that whereas the pound of 12 ounces is now ordinarily sold for 3 pound 5 shillings , or thereabouts : the same ( being vntwisted ) doth not cōtaine aboue 4½ ounces , or 5 ounces at the most of guilded siluer , which may be worth some 25 shillings : and all the rest goeth towards some very course silke and the workmanship , which is a very easie spinning . to say nothing of the easterlings wares of pitch , tar , wainscot , cables , flaxe , hempe and such like , because these are very necessary commodities , and cannot be much ouer-bought ; we are onely to note , that if the statute for the sowing of hempe were well obserued , all manner of cordage might be made within the realme , and thereby be had better cheape of others . howbeit the entercourse and commerce with other nations , requireth that euery countrey should haue their peculiar commodities ; whereof we are to consider the price , and to haue a care not to ouer-buy them , and to sell our home cōmodities too good cheape : which generally may be said for all commodities , and particularly for lawnes , cambrickes and such like , and most especially when claret wine was sold for 3 and 4 pound the tunne : prunes 5 shillings the hundreth : ciuill oyle 12 pound the tunne : soape of ciuill 20 shillings the hundreth : malmesey 5 pound the but : and so the like of diuers other commodities , if we do consider the great abundance thereof found now a dayes , and more commodiously and directly brought vnto vs , then heretofore ; as spices , sugar , currans , raisins , figs , and such like are . by all which commeth a notable ouer-ballancing of forreine commodities with our home commodities in nature before alleaged , which doth cōsistin the price , & not in the quantity . this ouerballancing is knowne by the increase of the custome of the goods inwards , & the decrease of the custome of the goods outwards : for which purpose let vs obserue , what the custome of wooll did amount in king edward the third his time , as aforesaid . thus finding things to be deare , and the price thereof hurtfull to the commonwealth , because we do not sell our home commodities so deare proportionably , as we do buy the forraine commodities : we may see that we are become buyers & not sellers , as the good father of the familie ought to be , as is aforesaid . wherfore let vs now consider of the causes of this dearth of forraine commodities ouer and aboue the price of our home cōmodities , which maketh vs to giue the treasure of the realm to boote , by aduancing the price of the one , and abating the price of the other : which might be attributed to the ignorance of permutation of commodities for commodities , if money did not rule the price of commodities ; and the course of exchange for mony , did not ouer-rule the property of mony : wherfore let vs note the causes , which are declared in the treatise of the canker of englands common wealth : where we may see that our home commodities are abated in price foure manner of wayes . 1 by scarsitie of money with vs , which maketh things good cheape . 2 by the gaine sought vpon money , which otherwise would be sought vpon the commodities . 3 by a high course of exchange , which draweth the money to be deliuered in nature of exchange onely , or by a low price of exchange , which is the efficient cause of the exportation of our money . 4 by the rash sale of our commodities by such as haue small stockes . forraine commodities on the contrary are aduanced in price foure manner of wayes . 1 through plenty of money in other countries , which maketh things deare . 2 by a high exchange beyond the seas , which yeeldeth a losse ; and by a low exchange which causeth few takers vp of money , and driueth men to make returne in forraine commodities . 3 by the aduancing of the price of their money aboue the value . 4 for that the principall commodities are engrossed into rich mens hands . the course of this inequalitie may be illustrated by the comparison . suppose that you were a lord of some iland , that did yeeld great store of corne or graine , and also great quantitie of wools : and another were lord of another iland , that did yeeld great abundance of spices , and sugar , and great quantitie of silke and silke wares , being things seruing either for the belly or backe . both of you do desire to liue in the ciuillest manner that you can deuise or imagine , and which is pleasing most your mind : and ( wanting the vse of money ) you are desirous to haue some of his spices , sugar and silkes ; and willing to giue him by way of permutation or barter , corne , graine , or wooll for them : whereupon by mutuall conference according to reason , both of you do agree what quantitie of each commoditie , one will deliuer for the commodities of the other ; and that chiefly in regard of the vse of euery mans commoditie . but because many questions do arise , and to auoide much cariage of wares vp and downe for the transporting from iland to iland ; you agree by mutuall consent , that a thing of mettall ( because it goeth in least roome , and continueth longest without perishing , and is caried too and fro with the least charge , and is also fittest to be cut and deuided in most peeces without losse ) shall be deuised to be coyned , as the meane in wares to exchange all wares by . and to the end there should be alwaies neither more nor lesse wares brought into your iland , then were equiualent with the wares of your iland ( and this thing you call money , which is now a measure to set a price , or to measure euery thing by ) it commeth to passe , that you haue more then sufficient for the inhabitants of your iland of corne , wools , and other commodities , which in this regard may be called superfluities : and because some of them are perishable and cannot keepe long , you seeke to vtter and conuert into money : whereby you draw great store of money into your iland . wherupon some of your inhabitants ( perceiuing the same to be the measure and meane to commaund and obtaine all other things ) through a couetous desire do practise to be maisters of that measure : so that no man can come by it , but with their consent , and paying well for it : and in so doing , they make the money to become a merchandise , and heape vp much wealth to themselues , & bring therby a dearth also of all things within your iland . for when one taketh a hundred pounds , to pay 10 pounds ouer and more then he borroweth , that man in vttering of his ware must sell accordingly : whereby the measure between you is become falsified . the lord of the other iland perceiuing this breach doth dissemble the matter , & knowing that by these meanes he is bereaued of a great part of his readie money , and therewithall , that the commodities which hee was wont to haue of you , are become dearer ; and that on the contrarie the price of his cōmodities is abated through scarcitie of money : hee deuiseth a course to draw the mony out of your iland , and to aduance the price of his commodities : you thereupon make a law , that no readie money shall be transported : but you are contented to admit an exchange for money on both sides , grounded vpon the waight and finenesse of his mony and yours , and according to the valuation to nominate the same ; and thereby to make returne of each others commodities , which exchange in nature of trade you suffer to rise and fall in price according to plentie and scarcitie of money . by meanes whereof , he hath an abilitie giuen him to compasse the rule of this exchange , and so doth abuse the same both waies , that he draweth all the readie money out of your iland , and doth aduance the price of his commodities , which he thereby selleth the dearer vnto you . you do also sell your commodities dearer , but you do not make a proportionable price vnto his , neither a due returne of the prouenue of your commodities . for if you make your returne by exchange of money by bils , he taketh an aduantage thereby in the price of exchange , by ouer-valuing his money , and vnder-valuing yours ; or else you are driuen to make returne in his commodities at a deare rate : whereby of necessitie he doth ouer-ballance your ilands commodities with his , and doth of course expell your readie money to be giuen to boote with your commodities . where is now become that equiualent proportion of wares for wares ? or to what purpose serueth the measure of money , betweene you and him ? do not the inhabitants of your iland pay for all ? and whence commeth al this ? was not vsurie the beginning , and the merchandizing exchange the efficient cause of all ? which being taken away , will make the effectes to cease : and what might be done ex conuerso , we leaue to the consideratiō of the wise to determine what may stand with the course of politicke gouernment . and to their iudgement we will now propound three meanes for the aduancing of the price of our home commodities by increase of trade , besides the operation of plentie of mony which maketh things deare : whereof we shall intreate more hereafter . the first is , to giue an abilitie vnto merchants to set ouer or transport their bils obligatorie or bonds , which they receiue vpon sale made of their commodities for other commodities . for whereas they sell most commonly all the forraine commodities payable at some short time , if ( hauing receiued billes or bonds for their wares ) they might lawfully set them ouer for other commodities , there would be greater quantities of our commodities bought from time to time . to which end the statutes of champertie and maintenance might be qualified , and the billes might be made payable to the partie or the lawfull bearer or bringer thereof , as is vsed in other countries . but because the strictnesse of the common lawe of the realme , doth require a greater perfection of formall deedes , then the ciuill lawe of other countries , where plaine and sincere dealings haue hitherto excluded non est factum : therfore were it requisite to haue one generall office for all notaries and scriueners , as there is in other countries : where euery act , bill , or bond should be registred , not onely by the notarie or scriuen or that made the same , but also by a prothonotarie , who should keepe register of all , and where euery thing should be enrolled vpon a penaltie . a matter in reason as well belonging to the chauncerie , as the recording of the deedes of lands , statutes , and recognizances . this wold greatly ease the most honourable court of starre-chamber of many sutes , which daily happen for forgeries and otherwise , and disburden also the court of common lawes of the like . and finally , many protractions in law would be abrogated , that now are vsed to the hurt both of the partie plaintife and defendant . the second is , that the citie of london , and euery principall towne of a shire , or the most part of them , would take vpon them , to take money casually at the hands of such , as will deliuer the same vpon the aduenture of their liues : as at venice , where a man for the summe of foure or fiue hundred pounds once giuen , shall be sure to haue a hundred pound a yeare during his life : whereby a great stocke might be raised for the generall good of all parties , and especially to set poore people on worke , and ( by incorporating their manufacture and handiworke ) to sell the same afterwards with a reasonable gain towards their aduenture . besides that , experience hath taught in all places where the like is vsed , that the citie becommeth alwaies a gainer by the decease of the parties , that do deliuer money in this nature . the third meane to aduaunce the price of our home commodities , is ( as before hath bene noted ) the example of great personages in the wearing of our commodities , whom the people will imitate : and so the more vsed , the more aduaunced by the request thereof : wherein the example of the prince is predominant . but leauing the matter of commodities , let vs come to intreate of monies . money ( as we haue said before ) being the rule and square to set a price vnto euery thing , as being the publike measure to maintaine a certaine equalitie in buying and selling ; must therefore haue his standing valuation onely by publike authoritie of princes , as a matter annexed to their crownes and dignities . for they be the warrant of the monies vnto their subiects . and to the end that this measure of things , namely money , should not be falsified , by making the same generally more or lesse ( whereby the price of things would become incertaine , if priuate men be suffered to haue the handling thereof ) therefore are princes so carefull to obserue a certaintie and equalitie of the price of money from time to time . howbeit , that the due regard which is to be had betweene their monies , and the monies of other princes , is by some lesse regarded , then the course thereof within their owne dominions being of lesse importance , hauing some base money currant with the good . the price of money becommeth incertaine in particular , when priuate men will giue or receiue any money in specie aboue the price of their valuation imposed by the authoritie of the prince : whereby euery man vndertaketh to aduaunce still the price according as he seeth occasion to aduance his gaine by the necessitie or vse of another man , that hath cause to employ the money . the vse hereof is in many countries seuerely prohibited , and yet another way in a manner suffered for the good of their commonweales , as those that are skilfull in mint matters , do very well know . the price of mony in generall becommeth incertaine , when vsury is tollerated , whereby one hundreth pounds are esteemed and valued ( in regard of time ) to be worth one hundreth and ten pounds , and in some other countries more : which was the cause that commodities were sold accordingly , when dayes were first giuen for the payment thereof , euery man supposing that he could make so much of his money which did proceede of his commodities . this course being tollerated by the lawes of the land , maketh vs to forbeare , to speake hereof sparingly , because pollicy doth thinke that therby greater euils are auoided , which ( being compared to the operations and effects of vsury written allegorically by me in another treatise ) may be ballanced in the iudgement of the wise . onely to the end that ( through ignorance ) merchants and others might not fall within the compasse of the statute of vsury , we haue thought good to giue them this caueat , and to make them to vnderstand the true sence and definition of the branch of tolleration of that statute : the rather for that some men do seeme to charge the makers thereof with a great absurdity . for say they , the statute giueth ability for a man to take one way ten pounds ten shillings or more for the vse of one hundreth pounds for one yeare , being deliuered out for two yeares : and another way he cannot take ten pounds fiue shillings and lesse for one yeare , but he shall be within the compasse of the statute . but if they had a due consideration , that time is properly the iudge hereof , and that they could not make the statute without the limitation of a time certaine : they would not find any absurdity therein . for it was impossible to make it otherwise more certaine . the words of the statute be in effect : none may haue , receiue , accept or take for the lending or forbearing of his or their money for one whole yeare , or for a longer or a shorter time , or for a more or lesse summe aboue the rate of 10 pound pro 100 yearely . 37. h. 8. and this statute to be most strongly & strictly cōstrued for the suppression of all vsury , both directly and indirectly , as by the statute of the 13. of her most excellent maiestie . to make it euidently appeare , that of necessity ( time ) is herein efficient and actiue , and the rate of 10 pro 100 positiue and passiue . let vs suppose that you do deliuer at interest one hundreth pounds for three moneths after ten vpon the hundreth , you may lawfully receiue at the three moneths end two pounds ten shillings for your interest , and continue the hundreth pounds againe for other three moneths , by a new contract or agreement : and then receiue againe two pounds ten shillings , continuing in this manner for the whole yeare by foure seuerall agreements : whereby you do receiue three parts of your interest at seuerall times within the yeare : which interest you may put out also to vsury , and so take aboue 10 pro 100 without incurring the danger of the satute , because your agreements haue from time to time altered the property of the interest money which you did receiue , and that which before was anothers , is thereby become yours , and thereof you may lawfully dispose againe . but if you do deliuer out 100 pounds from the beginning for one whole yeare , then you can haue but 10 pounds interest for the same at the yeares end with your principall : for the property of the 10 pounds is not till then altered by your agreement . thus is it with money deliuered for a shorter time . in like manner is it for money deliuered out for a longer time , as for example . one deliuereth out an 100 pound for foure yeares , for the which at the foure yeares end , he can receiue but 140 pound : but if he do deliuer out 100 pounds for one yeare , he may at the yeares end receiue 10 pounds for interest , and continue the 100 pounds againe for the second yeare by a new agreement : and then receiue another 10 pound : and so for the third and fourth yeare . now whereas by reason of his seuerall agreements according to the time he hath altered the property of the interest mony and receiued 10 pounds the first yeare , he may put out againe this 10 pound as his owne for another yeare , and so haue interest thereof twenty shillings : whereby he receiueth 11 pound the second yeare , which being put out for the third and fourth yeare , will yeeld him accordingly : in like maner for the 10 pound receiued the second and third yeare which will yeeld him after the same maner accordingly . so that he shall haue aboue 146 pound being thus deliuered out , the body of his sum still remaining whole , and being only distinguished by time which maketh the difference . againe let vs suppose , that the 100 pound were deliuered out from the beginning for foure years , to be repaied by 25 pound a yeare and the interest : it followeth proportionably that the first yeare he is to receiue 27 pound 10 shillings , the second yeare 30 pound , the third yeare 32 pound 10 shillings , and the fourth yeare 35 pound , which maketh all but 125 pound : adde vnto this the interest of 25 pound receiued , in deduction of his principal three yeares before the time , which is 7 pound 10 shillings , and of 25 pound more in like manner for 2 yeares which is 5 pound , and of 25 pound more for one yeare , which is 2 pound 10 shillings ; all 15 pound : which together maketh the 140 poūd , as aforesayd . but when monies are repayed in this maner , as it were by way of anticipatiō , then the body of your summe of 100 pound is deuided : and still time and vse or interest must concurre . for you may not deliuer out 300 pound for 3 yeares to be repayed by 100 pound yearly , and receiue the first yeare 130 pound , the second yeare 120 pound , and the third yeare 110 pound : but you must receiue the first yeare but 110 pound , the second yeare 120 pound , and the third yeare 130 poūd , because you haue not forborne your mony for any longer time proportionably , according to your contract and agreement . and the property of the interest money is not altered effectually according to the law : for 10 pro 100 for one yeare is the cubicke roote which doth increase & decrease both wayes proportionably . yet some will say : suppose that i haue 3000 pound in mony to deliuer at interest , are not my 3000 pounds worth 300 pounds at the years end ? and may not i lawfully receiue that 300 pounds , & any part of my principall , & continue the rest for one other yeare , and so do the like for more yeares ? who doubteth thereof ? so that you do make new contracts or agreements from yeare to yeare , wherby the property of the interest money becommeth effectually altered according to the law ( as aforesaid ) your mony from the beginning being deliuered out but for 1 yeare . but if you do deliuer your 3000 pound from the beginning by one sole contract or agreement for sixe yeares , to be repayed yearely , and receiue 550 pounds the first yeare , that is to say , 300 pound for your interest and 250 pound for part of your principall : then do you incurre the danger of the statute . for in this which is for a more summe and a longer time : there is the like reason , as there is with a lesse summe and and a shorter time , as by the former example of 100 pound is declared . and as there is more gaine , when money is deliuered out for three moneths or lesse time , and so continued from time to time within the yeare , then when mony is deliuered out for one yeare : so is there more gaine when money is deliuered out for one yeare , and continued by new agreements from yeare to yeare ; then when it is originally deliuered out for 6 or more yeares , agreeing with the rule of geometriall delineation , and arithmeticall proportion . wherefore he that should say , what reason haue i , to put out my money for one yeare , and to haue but 10 pro 100 : when i may put out the same for three moneths , or a shorter time , and take aboue 10 pro 100 ? speaketh vnaduisedly : for he must do it according to occasion . reason also requireth , that there should be difference betweene mony deliuered out for one yeare , and money deliuered out for more yeares according to the statute for he that receiueth his interest in this manner , as aforesaid , hath an ability giuen him to put out that interest money to vse also vnto another : whereby he hath interest vpon interest , though not of the same party , and therefore in equity is not to take it of two parties . so that euery man must take heed not to put out money for a longer time , and for seuerall yeares , and to reckon interest thereof as if he had ( from the beginning ) deliuered out his money but for one yeare : and so continued from yeare to yeare , reckoning interest vpon interest , as many do through a couetous desire in daunger of the branch of this statute , which must and may be most strongly and strictly construed against them , both directly and indirectly , as aforesayd . but to speake properly and effectually concerning vsury : let vs not only dispute de lana caprina , but seeke to qualifie the extreame dealings of those that do feede vpon the sweate and labour of the poore , by taking ( and that vpon pawne , whereby many times their meanes of liuing are hindred ) twelue pence for the lending of 20 shillings for one moneth , which is aboue 60 pro 100 : nay whē the meere poore are glad to pay one peny for the vse of twelue pence for a weeke , which is aboue 400 pro 100 by the yeare : a most pernicious and damnable dealing , not to be suffered amongst christians . for the reformation whereof , if there were in some places the vse of a lombard , where they might find reliefe after 10 pro 100 , especially in the city of london : it would proue a matter very necessary and cōmendable , whereas now the poore artificer doth ordinarily pay ( besides this horrible interest ) vnder the colour of brokerige or bill money aboue 20 vpon the hundreth : which in small summes , and that often borowed , is not perceiued to amount to this biting vsury . and to this effect , would such money very commodiously be employed , as casually would be deliuered by gentlemen and others that would purchase an annuitie during their life , as before hath bene touched . thus much concerning vsury , which altereth the certainty of the price of money in effect . now let vs intreate of the very substance of the moneys consisting of matter and forme . of matter as in regard of substance , we know that princes haue their seuerall standards both for gold and siluer , which by some are allayed with more copper ( commonly called allay ) then with others : whereas the onely cause that moneys are counterfeited and falsified commeth by the commixture of the three mettals , gold , siluer , and copper . and omitting to speake of many particular standards of princes , hauing handled that matter heretofore : let vs note the opinion of maister bodine , who to cut off all counterfeiters , clippers , washers , cullers and falsifiers of monies ; would haue the mony so made , that euery simple man should be able to know it . concerning the proportion betweene the gold and siluer , it ought to be , as it is ( by his saying ) in all countries 12 to 1 , whereunto he would haue made the waight , finenesse and valuation answerable . as for example touching finenesse , if we made the monies of gold to be 23 carrats , then the standard for the siluer ( after two carrats of gold for an ounce of siluer ) should be 11 ounces ½ fine ; and the peece of siluer ( weighing an equall waight with the gold ) should be valued to be worth the twelft part , or the gold 12 times the value of siluer , as if a french crowne ( waighing as much as the ryall of spaine ) were valued at sixe shillings the riall being sixe pence . and the third sort of monies , namely , small monies he wold haue made of meere copper , although ( saith he ) it were better ( if it were possible and commodious ) to haue no other money , then of gold and siluer which neuer rusteth as copper doth : the price of copper being also incertaine and differing in many countries . during the punicke warres , one pound of siluer was worth 840 pound of copper : afterwards through the abundance of siluer it came to 224 pound of copper for 1 pound of siluer : & so is it taken diuersly in diuers coūtries , according to the plenty of the one or other mettall vpon all occasions . the like shall we find touching the proportion betweene the gold and siluer , which with vs in england hath continued for many yeares , 11 of fine siluer to one of fine gold , or 11 of standard siluer to 1 of crowne gold , which of late yeares was takē according to our angell and crowne gold , supposing that other nations did hold these proportions following . the low-countries where they reckon two philip dollors for their golden royall or our angell made 11 to 1 ; if the tolleration had not altered the valuation of their monies in effect ; the royall being valued at 16 shillings 8 pence flemish , and the dollor 50 stiuers . the pistolet of spaine of 22 cariats to 11 ryals of plate made 11 to 1 , now but 10 ¾ : but the ouer-valuation maketh greater difference . the french crowne to three frankes is 11 to 1 , when the crowne was at 60 sols , which is now currant for 64 and 65 sols : besides that at that time gold was by valuation at 74 crownes the marke of 8 ounces , and siluer 6 crownes ⅓ , which is 11 13 / 19 for one . in germany one marke of siluer at 8 ½ florins d'or is 11 ⅔ for one . at rome 108 carlins for 1 pound of siluer and 99 ¼ duckats , the gold is 12 to 1. but by valuation or tolleration being altered in all places , they hold all either 12 to 1 or more : besides that in most places their waight is inferior or lesse then ours . king darius did taxe 13 of siluer for one of gold : and plato maketh mention of 12 to 1. but if we will haue a due consideration of the great quantity of siluer which commeth from the west indies yearly , & proportionably the small quantity of gold , & that for guilding gold is more vsed then siluer : we should by all meanes aduance the price thereof , rather then to abate it . and whereas some men naturally inclined to correct magnificat , seeme to find fault with our former writing for saying by way of interrogation , that if a man should receiue beyond the seas for our gold after 12 for 1 , we holding but 11 for 1 in proportion , who seeth not an euident gaine of 1 in 11 , if the siluer monies do not counteruaile the same by way of tolleration , being receiued far aboue their value beyond the seas : we cannot omit to answer them , to the end they may vnderstād the truth . imagine ( say they ) i haue an ounce of gold here , which cost me 11 ounces of siluer . now if i do transport this ounce beyond the seas : there they will giue me 12 ounces of siluer in money for it . but if i do bring ouer againe that money , here i shall haue but 11 ounces for it , because there is no more siluer in substance in it : for the valuation thereof is made farre aboue the value or é conuerso , if i bring ouer 12 ounces of their siluer monies , i shall haue but 1 ounce of gold for it , or 11 ounces of our siluer , ergo , there is no gaine . these arguments are grounded by surmise , and drawne of necessity , as if we must needs make an exchange of gold for siluer , or siluer for gold , whereas it falleth out thus . one bringeth certaine commodities from beyond the seas into the realme for to be vented ; and after sale made , he doth consider how to make returne with his most aduauntage : which he must either do by making employment vpon the commodities of the land , which do yeeld him so litle gaine beyond the seas ( being sold generally too good cheape ) as he will buy none : and then either he must carie away the monie in specie , or deliuer the same here by exchaunge vnto others , to be repayed beyond the seas . now if the price of exchange be low , and will yeeld him not so much gaine as the money will do , being caried in specie , their money must be transported ; for the scope of merchants is gaine . whereupon he doth consider , that gold is more portable and better to be conueyed , especially being beyond the seas taken by valuation to hold in proportion to the siluer 12 to 1 : which he enioyeth in the payment of the gold , and not in receiuing again siluer for it : but in buying more cōmodities to be brought vnto vs , exchaunging in effect from time to time their commodities for our gold , as also for our siluer . a matter , that the officers of the mint ought to looke into : for they know how to preuent it , as we haue set downe in the treatise of exchanges . touching those that would haue the transportation of money to bee made fellonie by the lawe , as it was heretofore , thereby to hinder the exportation ; they are not well aduised , considering that such statute lawes are neglected , and that informers do not regard to sue for the life of men , but well for their goods vpon such penall statutes , if the money it selfe ( hauing so great a command ) cannot make way when it wil depart , ( a gaine being offered ) which draweth more forcibly then the adamant stone . to describe the course of the sea of monies ( which like an ocean deuideth her branches in all countries ) were very difficult : but we may well obserue , that the greatest part of the siluer which commeth from the west indies , is transported into the east indies ; where diuerse nations now trafficking for spices , cause the price therof to rise in those countries : who buying deare , must sell accordingly , or else proue to be small gainers , as the sequell of that trade will manifest . gold is chiefly exhausted in all countries by the trade of silkes , which caused the frenchmen to prohibite the bringing in of any into france , where diuers stuffes of silke , as veluets , satin , grograines , and such like are made by the inhabitants . touching the forme of monies , whereunder wee comprehend the stampe or figure : let me commend vnto you the auncient making of monies by mils or engines . when gold and siluer began much to abound amongst the greekes , latines , persians , and egyptians , the vse whereof did cease , vpon the declining of their gouernments : when gold and siluer became so scarce , that monies were made so thin , that with the hammer they were stamped or coyned . great are the commodities that would arise thereby to the commonwealth , besides the charges which princes may saue , and the facilitie and expedition in the making exactly of greater quantities of money , fairer and rounder , more certaine in waight , and without cracke or flaw , and the stamp or figure of longer continuance ; then that which is made with the hammer with a greater noise . by the roundnes and fairenesse is clipping preuented , which in peeces proportionate , and of a faire impression is easily discerned . by the certaintie in waight , when peeces of one sort shall waigh one as much as the other , are cullers cut off , which are vsed to cull out the heauie ones for their vse of melting or transportation , and to pay out the light ones especially in siluer . counterfeiters , washers and falsifiers of money , will be sooner detected , and the false money knowne , when peeces of one sort , shall be of one bignesse and thicknesse , and of one sound and fairnesse of stampe , with their priuate marke for the time : the thicknesse will be seen , the waight will be found , and the sound will be heard by comparing one peece to another , especially when the rednesse or colour of the money doth giue suspition that the same is counterfeited . for there is great difference in the lumpe of mettals of equall waight , as we may partly perceiue , and is exactly found by the last triall made thereof . the masse or lumpe of gold to the lumpe of siluer , doth differ as much as 9 to 5 , that the bodie of siluer is bigger then that of gold , which is 1 ⅘ . betweene copper and siluer , is as much difference , as betweene 11 and 13. lead to siluer , as from 15 to 14 : but that will not ioyne with any other mettall then tinne , which is lighter then siluer , and doth differ from it as 9 to 13 : and from the gold , as 7 to 18. iron doth differ from siluer , as 4 to 3 : and from the gold as 6 to 9 , that the bodie of gold is lesser . quicksiluer which is volatile , commeth nearer vnto gold , and doth differ as 3 to 4 , the fixing wherof is difficult . touching the scisell which commeth by the making of monies by mils or engines , it is soone made and conuerted into monies , and may be lessened by good casting of the mettall into plates proportionate , which by degrees may be reformed , according to the increase of the quantitie of gold and siluer . to which end it will not be amisse to exhort and require all goldsmiths and others , to be vigilant and diligent in bringing of bulliō into her maiesties mint , where they may haue very speedie and assured payment thereof at all appointed times . and in this place we must not forget , that care may be had , that the moniers ( which worke by the hammer ) may be prouided for their lining , or be set on worke by the milles or engines . lastly , it were very conuenient & commodious , as also good for the poore to make small monies of copper , as halfepence and farthings , which might be called pledges of the poore , and would increase charitie towards them . whereby also all leaden tokens ( vsed in tauernes , and by such as sell small wares ) would bee taken away ; and would be very commodious in so populous a kingdome , being made exactly to preuent counterfeiting : which generally we do hold so difficult to be done , as is the counterfeiting of the hand of an excellent writer , amongst the ordinarie writings of most men . and the making thereof can breede no inconuenience in the commonwealth in the prices of commodities , wheras some princes do vse to coyne some monies for to remain within their dominions , & some other kind of monies for to be transported into other countries , reaping a great gaine by the coynage thereof . and omitting to shew the important causes and reasons which princes haue , to maintaine a standing treasure : we do not hold it impertinēt to reduce to memorie , that which is recorded of the treasure of princes in times past to awaken care in others . the greatest meane that the romaines had to saue their state , when hanniball had almost brought them to ruine , was 450 thousand crownes that the treasure did amount vnto , which was gathered by the redemption of slaues , and neuer touched vntill that time . pope iohn the 22. left 23 millions of gold : sardanapalus , 40 millions of crownes : cirus , 50 millions : the athenians , 60 millions : tiberius the emperour , 67 millions : alexander the great found in the treasurie of darius occhus the persian king , 80 millions . but the greatest treasure mentioned in the scripture , which king dauid left , was 120 millions , which did exceede farre the treasure recorded of the romaines , when they flourished most vnder traian the emperour : which is 74 thousand talents , being 44 millions 400 thousand crownes . to say nothing of the siluer and gold found vpon the discouerie of the west indies , and the ransomes which were collected , when atabalippa king of peru gaue onely for his raunsome ten millions 326 thousand duckets . let vs consider what great treasures princes might haue now adaies , when money doth abound : whereas it is reported , that king henry the 7 of england , left in bullion after his decease , 53 hundred thousand pounds starling in those daies , when an ounce of siluer was valued but 40 pence . and so cōcluding for monies , let vs come to the matter of exchaunge , which is the third and last meane , whereunder the trade is performed . but because my treatise of the canker of englands cōmonwealth doth handle that matter particularly , therefore shall it suffice to make mention onely of the contents thereof . as money doth rule the course of commodities : so the exchaunge for monies with vs doth not onely rule both the course of money and commodities ; but ( being abused by the merchandizing thereof ) is become predominant , and doth ouer-rule the course of them both to englands great and incredible losse : whereas the right exchange is most commendable , necessarie and conuenient for the maintenance and traffick of entercourse betwixt merchant and merchant , or countrie and countries , beeing grounded vpon the waight , finenesse and valuation of the money of each countrie according to value for value , which accordingly should be kept at a certaintie , as a measure betwixt vs and other nations . for we haue amply declared and proued , that when the exchange doth fall or rise in price , the same being either high or low ; it turneth euery way to the losse of the realme , both for the price of our home commodities , and the transportation of our monies , and by aduancing the price of forraine commodities , causing an ouer-ballancing in nature before alleaged : which to supply , draweth or expelleth our treasure . for we doe ( in effect ) giue the same to boote vnto other nations with our home commodities , to haue their commodities for it . some men of iudgement haue found my writing to be inuectiue and patheticall against bankers , wherein they are not mistaken . for the vse of bankes is incompatible in any well ordered commonwealth , as time will manifest more and more daily . the french kings , lewis the 9 , and philip the faire , did with great cause confiscate the bankers goods : and for the discouerie of their debts , ordered their subiects to pay onely the principall money vnto their treasurers . philip de valois did the like , and indited them as couseners of the common-wealth . for it was found , that in a short time with 24 thousand pounds starling , they had accumulated and gotten aboue 2 millions 400 thousand pounds . others which ( through enuie , malice , or other passions , haue the eyes of their iudgment blinded ) haue censured my writing to be apologeticall for the erection of a banke vnder the colour of the restauration of the office of the auncient kings exchanger : which , how absurd it is , let the wise iudge by the difference betweene a banker , and a generall exchanger . the banker doth draw vnto himselfe all the monies of other men , making his small stocke to be infinite : and the exchanger must with his owne stocke supply other mens occasions ; for no man is commaunded , or by pollicie ( of course ) compelled to deliuer money vnto him . the banker doth make the price of exchanges with the correspondencie of others bankes elsewhere , at his pleasure or most aduantage : the exchanger can haue no correspondencie with other bankes ; for he is limited how to deale at a certaintie in price by exchange , and therefore must haue his factors or seruants at his owne charges in the places of trafficke . but because it is difficult to please mens humors in the reformation of abuses , which either for gaine some would haue to continue , or others through ignorance do not vnderstand ; therefore is there another meane propounded , to keepe a due course in matter of exchange without an exchanger : by a proscription in a paire of tables to all sworne brokers , how to make the price of exchanges for all places according to value for value . which wold be easie and in effect aequum & bonum ( as we haue declared ) so as a due regard be had of the circumstances of things ; noting alwaies this coherence , that euen as plentie of money maketh with vs a low exchange , and the low price of exchange is the efficient cause of the transportation of our monies : that so by procuring plentie of money , we do not procure therewithall the cause of exportation , and hunt ( as it were ) after our owne shadow . some others haue thought this matter to be in a manner incurable , or impossible to be effected now adaies , considering the great trade ; when ( to speake truly ) the trade of our commodities is much decayed and : without that they can yeeld or giue any probable reason thereof , but that the difficulties and sicknesse of the commonwealth cannot admit it , as who should say : it is better to let a sicke bodie languish to death , then to make him drinke an vnsauorie potion to restore him to health . for mine owne part , i haue thought it my dutie in regard of profession , to publish and preferre sincerely ( according to my small talent ) any thing which may make for the good of the commonwealth ▪ especially it being agreeable with the most noble and auncient lawes of the realme : wishing that other men indued with more learning , and adorned with excellent vertues , would be alwaies carefull to do the like in that which concerneth their profession . and hereunto i haue bene the more encouraged , for that since the publishing of my treatise aforesaid , and by meanes of my priuate aduice vnto diuers , ( without boasting or arrogancie be it spoken ) there hath bene a better course taken , by obseruing the nature of exchanges ; whereby great store of siluer bullion and some gold , hath bene brought into the realme for the generall benefite and good of the bringers thereof : which doth put me in hope , that the like vigilancie and regard will be had by diuers , in the sale of our home commodities , and the buying of forraine commodities beyond the seas , with a due inspection to equitie and iustice in the course of trafficke : which recommendeth vnto vs prouidence , and doth not altogether exclude pollicie , especially in respect of the gouernment of a state or kingdome , in studying the way of preseruation and augmentation of the wealth thereof ; which cannot properly be done , but by these meanes . for the same cannot decrease , but by the transportation of our money and treasure , and by selling our home commodities too good cheape , and paying too deare for the forraine commodities , as we haue noted before . to which end we are to cōpare the prices of things betwixt vs and other nations with whom we deale : and not to shew the causes of the dearth of things with maister bodine , by examining the prices thereof within the common-wealth where we do liue , without making any application thereof for the generall good of the realm : for the conseruation wherof , prayers and meanes are requisite at all times . veritas vnita valet . some considerations of the consequences of the lowering of interest, and raising the value of money in a letter to a member of parliament. locke, john, 1632-1704. 1692 approx. 248 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 101 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a48895 wing l2760 estc r23025 12238690 ocm 12238690 56722 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a48895) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56722) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 606:9) some considerations of the consequences of the lowering of interest, and raising the value of money in a letter to a member of parliament. locke, john, 1632-1704. [3], 4, [2], 192 p. printed for awnsham and john churchill ..., london : 1692. errata: p. [2] in third sequence. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng money -england. interest -england. 2002-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-08 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-09 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-09 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion licensed , novemb. 27. 1691. ia. fraser . some considerations of the consequences of the lowering of interest , and raising the value of money . in a letter to a member of parliament . london , printed for awnsham and iohn churchill , at the black-swan in pater-noster-row . 1692. sir , these notions , concerning coinage , having for the main , as you know , been put into writing above twelve months since ; as those other concerning interest , a great deal above so many years : i put them now again into your hands , with a liberty ( since you will have it so ) to communicate them farther , as you please . if , upon a review , you continue your favourable opinion of them , and nothing less than publishing will satisfie you , i must desire to remember , that you must be answerable to the world for the stile ; which is such as a man writes carelesly to his friend , when he seeks truth , not ornament ; and studies only to be in the right , and to be understood . i have , since you saw them last year , met with some new objections in print which i have endeavoured to remove ; and particularly , i have taken into consideration a printed sheet , entituled , remarks upon a paper given in to the lords , &c. because one may naturally suppose , that he that was so much a patron of that cause , would omit nothing that could be said in favour of it . to this i must here add , that i am just now told from holland , that the states , finding themselves abused by coining a vast quantity of their base [ schillings ] money , made of their own ducatoons , and other finer silver , melted down ; have put a stop to the minting of any but fine silver coin , till they should settle their mint upon a new foot. i know the sincere love and concern you have for your country , puts you constantly upon casting about on all hands for any means to serve it ; and will not suffer you to overlook any thing you conceive may be of any the least use , though from the meanest capacities : you could not else have put me upon looking out my old papers concerning the reducing of interest to 4 per cent , which have so long lain by forgotten . upon this new survey of them , i find not my thoughts now to differ from those i had near twenty years since : they have to me still the appearance of truth ; nor should i otherwise venture them so much as to your sight . if my notions are wrong , my intention , i am sure , is right : and whatever i have failed in , i shall at least let you see with what obedience i am , sir , your most humble servant . nov. 7. 1691. errata . page 3. l. 2. read natural ; p. 9. l. 27. r. masters ; p. 12. l. 13. r. natural price ; p. 26. l. 16. r. of 1000 l. l. ult . r. clothing his ; p. 48. l. 25. r. money being ; p. 50. l. 19. r. to their ; p. 52. l. 18. r. be 9 / 10 ; p. 64. l. 13. r. a quality which ; p. 80. l. 14. r. natural ; l. 16. r. natural ; p. 82. l. 27. r. what has ; p. 91. l. ult . r. cheaper ; p. 94. l. 27. r. landholder ; p. 95. l. 6. r. all , as ; ● . 20. r. the yearly ; p. 121. l. 6. r. mortgagee ; p. 122. l. 23 : r. and pay ; p. 123. l. 27. r. other conjurers ; p. 127. l. 11. r. virgula ; p. 129. l. 3. r. this present year 1690. p. 137. l. ult . dele more than is the standard of our other money ; p. ●38 . l. 11. r. these species ; p. 140. l. 18. r. from , it is ; p. 141. l. 8. r. debts , and in ; l. 9. r. rents for ever ; p. 147. l. 18. r. owner ; p. 153. l. ult . r. it to a ; p. 156. l. 29. r. raise the ; p. 168. l. 10. r. rate as readily as any other coin ; l. 28. r. place bringing ; p. 169. l. 8. r. because they ; p. 173. l. 7. r. by the ounce ; p. 174. l. 25. r●ise elsewhere ● p. 182. l. 2. ● . lighter than ; p. 183. l. 12. r. own coin ; p. 186. l. 23. ● . before-hand with those to whom debts are owing . sir , i have so little concern in paying or receiving of interest , that were i in no more danger to be misled by inability and ignorance , than i am to be biassed by interest and inclination , i might hope to give you a very perfect and clear account of the consequences of a law to reduce interest to four per cent. but since you are pleased to ask my opinion , i shall endeavour fairly to state this matter of use with the best of my skill . the first thing to be consider'd , is , whether the price of the hire of money can be regulated by law. and to that i think , generally speaking , one may say , 't is manifest it cannot . for since it is impossible to make a law that shall hinder a man from giving away his money or estate to whom he pleases , it will be impossible , by any contrivance of law , to hinder men , skill'd in the power they have over their own goods , and the ways of conveying them to others , to purchase money to be lent them at what rate soever their occasions shall make it necessary for them to have it . for it is to be remembred , that no man borrows money , or pays use , out of mere pleasure ; 't is the want of money drives men to that trouble and charge of borrowing : and proportionably to this want , so will every one have it , whatever price it cost him . wherein the skilful , i say , will always so manage it , as to avoid the prohibition of your law , and keep out of its penalty , do what you can . what then will be the unavoidable consequences of such a law ? 1. it will make the difficulty of borrowing and lending much greater ; whereby trade ( the foundation of riches ) will be obstructed . 2. it will be a prejudice to none but those who most need assistance and help , i mean widows and orphans , and others uninstructed in the arts and managements of more skilful men ; whose estates lying in money , they will be sure , especially orphans , to have no more profit of their money , than what in●●r●st the law barely allows . 3. it will mightily encrease the advantage of bankers and ●e●●veners , and other such expert brokers ; who skill●d in the arts of putting out money according to the true and nat●●nal value , which the present state of trade , money and debts , shall always raise interest to , they will infallibly get what the true value of interest shall be , above the legal . for men finding the convenience of lodging their money in hands where they can be sure of it at short warning ; the ignorant and lazy will be forwardest to put it into these mens hands who are known willingly to receive it , and where they can readily have the whole , or a part , upon any sudden occasion that may call for it . 4. i fear i may reckon it as one of the probable consequences of such a law , that it is likely to cause great perjury in the nation ; a crime , than which nothing is more carefully to be prevented by law-makers , not only by penalties that shall attend apparent and proved perjury , but by avoiding and lessening , as much as may be , the temptations to it : for where those are strong , ( as they are where men shall swear for their own advantage ) there the fear of penalties to follow will have little restraint ; especially if the crime be hard to be proved . all which i suppose will happen in this case , where ways will be found out to receive money upon oth●r pretences than for use , to evade the rule and rigour of the law : and there will be secret trusts and collusions amongst men , that● though they may be suspected , can never be proved without their own confession . i have heard very sober and observing persons complain of the danger mens lives and properties are in , by the frequency and fashionableness of perjury amongst us . faith and truth , especially in all occasions of attesting it upon the solemn appeal to heaven by an oath , is the great ●ond of society : this it becomes the wisdom of magistrates carefully to support , and render as sacred and ●wful in the minds of the people as they can . but if ever frequency of oaths shall make them be looked on as formalities of law , or the custom of straining of truth ( which mens swearing in their own cases is apt to lead them to ) has once dipt men in perjury , and the guilt with the temptation has spread it self very wide , and made it almost fashionable in some cases , it will ●e impossible for the society ( these bonds being dissolv●d ) to subsist : all must break in pieces● and run to confusion . that swearing in their own cases is apt , by degrees● to lead men into as little regard of such oaths , as they have of their ordinary talk , i think there is reason to suspect , from what has been observed in something of that kind . masters of ships are a sort of men generally industrious and sober , and i suppose may be thought , for their number and rank , to be equally honest to any other sort of men ; and yet , by the discourse i have had with merchants in other countries , i find , that they think in those parts , they take a great liberty in their custom-house oaths , to that degree , that i remember i was once told , in a trading town beyond sea , of a master of a vessel , there esteemed a sober and fair man , who yet could not hold saying , god forbid that a custom-house oath should be a sin. i say not this , to make any reflection upon a sort of men that i think as uncorrupt as any other ; and whom i am sure ought in england to be cherished and esteem'd as the most industrious and most beneficial of any of its subjects . but i could not forbear to give this here as an instance how dangerous a temptation it is , to bring men customarily to swear , where they may have any concernment of their own . and it will always be worthy the care and consideration of law-makers , to keep up the opinion of an oath high and sacred , as it ought to be in the minds of the people ; which can never be done , where frequency of oaths , b●●●sed by interest , has establisht a neglect of them ; and fashion ( which it seldom fails to do ) has given countenance to what profit rewards . but that law cannot keep men from taking more use than you set ( the want of money being that alone which regulates its price ) will perhaps appear , if we consider how hard it is to set a price upon wine or silks , or other unnecessary commodities : but how impossible it is to set a rate upon victuals in a time of famine ! for money being an universal commodity , and as necessary to trade , as food is to life , every body must have it at what rate they can get it , and unavoidably pay dear when it is scarce , and debts , no less than trade , have made borrowing in fashion . the bankers are a clear instance of this : for some years since the scarcity of money having made it in england worth really more than six per cent. most of those that had not the skill to let it for more than six per cent. and secure themselves from the penalty of the law , put it in the bankers hands , where it was ready at their call , when they had an opportunity of greater improvement , so that the rate you set , profits not the lenders , and very few of the borrowers , who are fain to pay the price for money , that commodity would bear , were it left free ; and the gain is only to the banker . and should you lessen the use to four per cent. the merchant , or tradesman , that borrows , would not have it one jot cheaper than he has now ; but probably these two ill effects would follow . first , that he would pay dearer ; and secondly , that there would be less money left in the country to drive the trade . for the bankers paying at most but four per cent. and receiving from six to ten per cent. or more , at that low rate could be content to have more money lye dead by them , than now when it is higher . by which means there would be less money stirring in trade . and a greater scarcity ; which would raise it upon the borrower by this monop●ly . and what a part of our treasure their skill and management , joyned with others laziness or want of skill , is apt to draw into their hands , is to be known by those vast sums of money they were found to owe at the shutting up of the exchequer . and though it be very true , yet it is almost beyond belief , that one private goldsmith of london should have credit , upon his single security , ( being usually nothing but a note under one of his servants hands ) for above 〈…〉 at once . the same reasons i suppose will still keep on the same trade : and when you have taken it down by law to that rate , no body will think of having more than four per cent. of the banker , though those who have need of money , to employ it in trade , will not then , any more than now , get it under five or six , or as some pay , seven or eight . and if they had then , when the law permitted men to make more profit of their money , so large a proportion of the cash of the nation in their hands , who can think but that by this law it should be more driven into lombard-street now ? there being many now who lend them at four or five per cent. who will not lend to others at six . it would therefore perhaps bring down the rate of money to the borrower , and certainly distribute it better to the advantage of trade in the country , if the legal use we●e kept pretty near to the natural ; ( by na●ur●l u●e , i mean that rate of money which the present scarcity of it makes it naturally at , upon an equal distribution of it ) for then men being licensed by the law to take near the full natural use , will not be forward to carry it to london , to put it into the bankers hands ; but will lend it to their neighbours in the country , where it is convenient for trade it should be . but if you lessen the rate of use , the lender , whose interest it is to keep up the rate of money , will rather lend it to the banker , at the legal interest , than to the tradesman or gentleman , who when the law is broken , shall be sure to pay the full natural interest , or more ; because of the ingrossing by the banker , as well as the risque in transgressing the law : whereas were the natural use suppose seven per cent. and the legal six ; first , the owner would not venture the penalty of the law for the gaining 1 / ● part , that being the utmost his money would yeild . nor would the banker venture to borrow , where his gains would be but one per cent. nor the money'd man lend him what he could make better profit of legally at home . all the danger lies in this , that if your being behind hand has made the natural use so high , that your tradesman cannot live upon his labour , but that your rich neighbours will so undersell you , that the return you make will not amount to pay the use and afford a livelihood , there is no way to recover from this but by a general frugality and industry , or being masters of the trade of some commodity , which the world must have from you at your rate , and cannot be other where supplied . now i think the natural interest of money is raised two ways : first , when the money of a country is but little in proportition to the debts of the inhabitants one amongst another ; for suppose 10000 l. were sufficient to manage the trade of bermudas , and that the ten first planters carried over 20000 l. which they lent to the several tradesmen and inhabitants of the country , who living above their gains , had spent 10000 l. of this money , and it wer● gone out of the island : 't is evident , that should all the creditors at once call in their money , there would be a great scarcity of money when that employ'd in trade must be taken out of the tradesmens hands to pay debts ; or else the debtors want money and be exposed to their creditors , 〈…〉 interest will be high . but this sel 〈…〉 ing , that all , or the greatest 〈…〉 creditors do at once call for 〈…〉 unless it be in some great and 〈…〉 is less and seldomer seit 〈…〉 unless where the debts 〈…〉 own to a greater pro 〈…〉 causing more 〈…〉 leade●s , will 〈…〉 high secondly . that which con 〈…〉 raises the 〈…〉 of money , is , when 〈…〉 to the trade of a country ; for in trade every body calls for money according as he wants it , and this disproportion is always felt . for if englishmen owed in all but one million , and there were a million of money in england , the money would be well enough proportionable to the debts , yet if two millions were necessary to carry on the trade , there would be a million wanting , and the price of money would be raised as it is of any other commodity in a market , where the merchandize will not serve half the customers , and there are two buyers for one seller . 't is in vain therefore to go about effectually to reduce the price of interest by a law ; and you may as rationally hope to set a fixt rate upon the hire of houses , or ships , as of money ; he that wants a vessel , rather than lose his market , will not stick to have it at the market rate , and find ways to do it , with security to the owner , though the rate were limited by a law ; and he that wants money , rather than lose his voyage , or his trade , will pay the natural interest for it , and submit to such ways of conveyance as shall keep the lender out of the reach of the law. so that your act , at ●est , will serve only to increase the arts of lending , but not at all lessen the charge of the borrower ; he 't is likely shall with more trouble , and going farther about , pay also the more for his money , unless you intend to break in only upon mortgages and contracts already made , and ( which is not to be supposed ) by a law , post factum , void bargains lawfully made , and give to richard what is peters due , for no other reason but because one was borrower and the other lender . but supposing the law reach'd the intention of the promoters of it ; and that this act be so contrived , that it forced the national price of money , and hindred its being by any body lent at a higher use than 4 l. per. cent. which is plain it cannot . let us in the next place see what will be the consequences of it . 1. it will be a loss to widows , orphans , and all those who have their estate in money , one third of their estates , which will be a very hard case upon a great number of people ; and it is warily to be consider'd by the wisdom of the nation , whether they will thus at one blow , fine and impoverish a great and innocent pa●t of the people , who having their estat●● in money , have as much right to make a● much of their money , as it is worth , ( for more they cannot ) as the landlord ha● to let his ●and for as much as it will yield , and to ●ine men one third of their estates without any crime or offence committed , seems very hard . 2. as it will be a considerable loss and injury to them , so it will be no advantage at all to the kingdom ; for so trade be not cramp'd , and the exportation of our native commodities and manufactures not hindred , it will be no matter to the kingdom , who amongst our selves gets or loses , only common charity teaches , those should be most taken care of by the law , who are least capable of taking care for themselves . 3. it will be a gain to the borrowing merchant ; for if he borrow at four per cent , and his returns be twelve per cent. he will have eight per cent. and the lender four , whereas now they divide the profit equally at six per cent. but this neither gets nor loses the kingdom in your trade , supposing the merchant and lender to be both englishmen ; only it will as i have said , transfer a third part of the monied mans estate , who has nothing else to live on , into the merchants pocket , and that without any merit in the one , or trangression in the other , and that to the prejudice of trade : since it will discourage lending at such a disproportion of profit , to risque , as we shall see more by and by , when we come to consider of what consequence it is to encourage lending , that so none of the money of the nation may lie dead , and thereby prejudice trade . 4. it will hinder trade , for there being a certain proportion of money necessary for driving such a proportion of trade , so much money of this as lies still , lessens so much of the trade : now it cannot be rationally expected , but that where the venture is great , and the gains small , ( as it is in lending in england upon low interest ) many will choose rather to hoard up their money than venture it abroad on such terms . this will be a loss to the kingdom , and such a loss as here in england ought chiefly to be looked after ; for we having no mines , nor any other way of getting or keeping of riches amongst us but by trade , so much of our trade as is lost , so much of our riches must necessarily go with it ; and the over-ballancing of trade between us and our neighbours , must inevitably carry away our money , and quickly leave us poor and exposed . in a country not furnish●d by nature with mines of gold and silver , ( and those too , as far as i can observe , are generally poor enough , the digging and resining of those metals , taking up the labour , and wasting the number of the people ; for which reason , the wise policy of the chineses will not suffer those mines they have to be wrought ) there are but two ways of growing rich , ( i. e. of bringing more riches , and consequently more plenty of all the conveniencies of life , than what falls to the share of neighbouring kingdoms and states ) and those two ways of growing rich , are either conquest or commerce . by the first , the romans made themselves masters of the riches of the world , but i think that in our present circumstances , no body is vain enough to entertain a thought of our reaping the profits of the world by our swords , and making the spoil and tribute of vanquish'd nations , the fund for the supply of the charges of the government , with an over-plus for the wants , and equally craving luxury , and fashionable vanity of the people . commerce therefore is the only way left to us , either for riches or subsistence , for this t●e advantages of our situation , as well as the industry and inc●ination of our people , bold and skil●ful at sea , do naturally fit us ; by this the nation of england ha● been hitherto supported , and trade left almost to it self , and assisted only by the natural advantages above-mentioned , brought us in plenty and riches , and always set this kingdom in a rank equal , if not superior to any of its neighbours , and would no doubt without any difficulty have continued it so , if the more enlarged , and better understood interest of trade , since the improvement of navigation had not raised us many rivals ; and the amazing politicks of some late reigns , let in other competitors with us for the sea , who will be sure to seize to themselves whatever parts of trade our mismanagement , or want of money , shall let slip out of our hands ; and when it is once lost , 't will be too late to hope , by a mistim'd care , easily to retrieve it again . for the currents of trade , like those of waters , make themselves channels , out of which they are afterwards as hard to be diverted , as rivers that have worn themselves deep within their banks . trade then is necessary to the producing of riches , and money necessary to the carrying on of trade : this is principally to be looked after and taken care of ; for if this be neglected , we shall in vain , by contrivances amongst our selves , and shu●tling the little money we have from one anothers hands , endeavour to prevent our wants : decay of trade will quickly waste all the remainder ; and then the landed man , who thinks perhaps by the fall of interest to raise the value of his land , will find himself cruelly mistaken , when the money being gone , ( as it will be if our trade be not kept up ) he can get neither farmer to rent , nor purchaser to buy his land. whatsoever therefore hinders the lending of money , injures trade : and so the reducing of money to four per cent. which will discourage men from lending , will be a loss to the kingdom , in stopping so much of the current of money , which turns the wheels of trade . but all this upon a supposition that the lender and borrower are both english men . if the lender be a foreigner , by lessening interest from six to four you get to the kingdom ⅓ of the interest we pay yearly to foreigners ; which let any one if he please think considerable . but then upon lessening interest to four per cent. it is likely one of these things will happen . that either you fall the price of your native commodities ; or lessen your trade ; or else prevent not the high use as you intended . for at the time of lessening your interest , you want money , or you do not : if you do not , there is no need to prevent borrowing at a high rate of your neighbours ; for there can be no money borrowed , but in order to trade ; for what is not employ'd in trade lyes still , and no body borrows for that . for borrowing of one to pay what we owe to another may be generally accounted to be for trade ; it being very seldom people call in their money to let it lye still . and if you do want money , necessity will still make you borrow of them , and at the rates your necessity , not your laws , shall set : or else , if there be fearcity of money , it must hinder the merchant's buying and exportation , and the artisan's manufacture . now the kingdom gets or loses by this ( for no question the merchant by low 〈◊〉 gets all the while ) only propo●tionably ( allowing the consumption of foreign commodities to be still the s●me ) as the paying of use to foreigners carries away more or less of our money , than want of money and stopping our trade keeps us from bringing in , by hindring our gains ; which can be only estimated by those who know how much money we borrow of foreigners , and at what rate ; and too , what profit in trade we make of that money : though perhaps it will appear true upon examination , that our growing rich or poor depends not at all upon our borrowing upon 〈◊〉 or not ; but only which is greater o● less , our importation or exportation of consumable commodities . for supposing two millions of money will drive the trade of england , and that we have money enough of our own to do it ; if we consume o● our own product and manufacture , and what we purchase by it of foreign commodities , one million , but of the other million consume nothing , but make a return of ten per cent. per an. we must then every year be 100000 l. richer , and our stock be so much encreast : but if we import more consumable commodities than we export , our money must go out to pay for them , and we grow poorer . suppose therefore ill husbandry hath brought us to one million stock , and we borrow the other million ( as we must , or lose half our trade ) at six per cent. if we consume one moyety , and make still ten per cent. per an. return of the other million , the kingdom gets 40000 l. per an. though it pay 60000 l. per an. use. so that if the merchant's return be more than his use , ( which 't is certain it is , or else he will not trade ) and all that is so traded for on borrowed money be but the ov●●ballance of our exportation to our importation , the kingdom gets by this borrowing so much as whatsoever the merchant's gain is above his use. but if we borrow only for our own expences , we grow doubly poor , by paying money for the commodity we consume , and use for that money ; though the merchant gets all this while , by making returns greater than his use. and therefore borrowing of foreigners in it self makes not the kingdom rich or poor ; for it may do either ; but spending more than our fruits or manufactures will pay for , brings in poverty , and poverty borrowing . for money , as necessary to trade , may be doubly considered ; first , as in his hands that pays the labourer and land-holder , ( for here its motion terminates , and through whose hands soever it passes between these , he is but a broker ) and if this man want money , ( as for example , the clothier ) the manufacture is not made ; and so the trade stops , and is lost . or secondly , money may be considered as in the hands of the consumer , under which name i here reckon the merchant who buys the commodity , when made , to export ; and if he want money , the value of the commodity , when made is lessened , and so the kingdom loses in the price . if therefore use he lessened● and you cannot tye foreigners to your terms , then the ill effects fall only upon your own landholders and artisans : if foreigners can be forc'd by your law to lend you money only at your own rate , or not lend at all , is it not more likely they will rather take it home , and think it safer in their own country at four per c●nt than abroad ; nor can their over-plus of money bring them to lend to you , on your terms ; for when your merchants want of money , shall have sunk the price of your market , a dutchman will find it more gains to buy your commodity himself , than lend his money at four per cent. to an english merchant to trade with : nor will the act of navigation hinder their coming , by making them come empty , since even al-already there are those who think , that many who go for english merchants , are but dutch factors , and trade for others in their own names : the kingdom therefore will lose by it if it makes foreigners withdraw any of their money , as well as if it hinders any of your people from lending theirs , where trade has need of it . in a treatise writ on purpose for the bringing down of interest , i find this argument of foreigners calling away their money to the prejudice of our trade , thus answer'd , that the money of foreigners is not brought into the land by read , 〈◊〉 bullion , but by goods or bills of exchange ; and when it is paid must be returned by goods or bills of exchange , and there will not be the less money in the land. i could not but wonder to see a man , who undertook to write of money and interest , talk so directly besides the matter in the business of trade ; foreigners money , he says , is not brought into the land by ready coin or bullion , but by goods , or bills of exchange . how then do we come by pullion or money ? for gold grows not that i know in our country , and silver so little , that one hundred thousandth part of the silver we have now in england , was not drawn out of any mines in this island . if he means that the monied man in holland , who puts out his money at interest here , did not send it over in pullion or specie hither , that may be true or false ; but either way helps not that authors purpose . for if he paid his money to a merchant his neighbour , and took his pills for it here in england , he did the same thing as if he had sent over that money , since he does but make that merchant 〈◊〉 in england , the money which ●e has due to him there , and otherwise would carry away : 〈◊〉 , says our author . 〈…〉 ; i must not be paid and exported in ready money , so says our law indeed , but that is a law to hedge in the cookoe , and serves to no purpose ; for if we export not goods , for which our merchants have money due to them in holland , how can it be paid by bills of exchange ? and for g●ods , 100 l. worth of goods can no where pay 200 l. in money , this being that which i find many men deceive themselves with in trade : it may be worth while to make it a little plainer . let us suppose england peopled as it is now , and its woollen manufacture in the same state and perfection that it is at present , and that we , having no money at all , trade with this our woollen manufacture for the value of 200000 l. yearly to spain , where there actually is a million in money ; let us suppose that we bring back from spain , yearly in oyl , wine , and fruit , to the value of 100000 l. and continue to do this ten years together ; 't is plain we have had for our two millions value in woollen manufacture carried thither , one million return'd in wine , oyl , and fruit , but what is become of ● other million ? will the merchants be content to lose it ? that you may be sure they would not , nor have traded on , if they had not every year returns made answering their exportation . how then were the returns made ? in money it is evident . for the spaniards having in such a trade , no debts , nor the possibility of any debts in england , cannot pay one farthing of that other million by bills of exchange ; and having no commodities that we will take off above the value of 100000 l. per annum , they cannot pay us in commodities . from whence it necessarily follows , that the 100000 l. per annum , wherein we over-ballance them in trade , must be paid us in money ; and so at the ten years end , their million of money , ( though their law make it death to export it ) will be all brought into engl●nd , as in truth , by this over-ballance of trade , the greatest part of our money hath been brought into england out of spain . let us suppose our selves now possessed of this million of money ; and exporting yearly out of england , to the several parts of the world● consumable commodities to the value of a million , but importing yearly in commodities , which we consume amongst us to the value of 1100000 l. if such a t●●de as this be managed amongst us , and continue ten y●●●s it is evident , that our million of money will at the end of the ten years be inevitably all gone from us to them , by the same way that it came to us ; that is , by their over-ballance of trade . for we importing every year 100000 l. worth of commodities more than we export , and there being no foreigners that will give us 100000 l. every year for nothing , it is unavoidable , that 100000 l. of our money must go out every year to pay for that over-plus , which our commodities do not pay for ; and 't is ridiculous to say , that bills of exchange shall pay our debts abroad ; that cannot be till scrips of paper can be made current coin. the eng●ish merchant , who has no money owing him abroad , cannot expect to have his bills paid there ; or if he has credit enough with a correspondent , to have his bills answer'd ; this pays none of the debt of england , but only changes the creditor : and if upon the general ballance of trade , english merchants owe to foreigners 100000 l. or 1000000 , if commodities do not , our money must go out to pay , or else our credit be lost , and our trade stop , and be lost too . a kingdom grows rich or poor just as a farmer doth , and no otherwise : let us suppose the whole isle of portland one farm , and that the owner , besides what serves his family , carries to market to weymouth and dorchester , &c. cattle , corn , butter , cheese , wooll , or cloath , lead and tin , all commodities produced and wrought within his farm of portland , to the value of 1000 l. yearly ; and for this , brings home in salt , wine , oyl , spice , linnen and silks , to the value of 900 l. and the remaining 100 l. in money : 't is evident he grows every year 100 l. richer , and so at the end of the ten years will have clearly got 1000 l. if the owner be a better husband , and contenting himself with his native commodities , buy less wine , spice and silk , at market , and so bring home 500 l. in money yearly , instead of 100 l. at the end of ten years he will have 5000 l. by him , and be so much richer . he dies , and his son succeeds , a fashionable young gentleman , that cannot dine without champane and burgundy , nor sleep but in a damask bed ; whose wife must spread a long train of brocard , and his children be always in the newest french cut and stuff : he being come to the estate , keeps on a very busie family ; the markets are weekly frequented , and the commodities of his farm carried out , and sold , as formerly , but the returns are made something different ; the fashionable way of eating , drinking , and clothing 〈◊〉 his wife , children and family , requires more sugar and spice , wine and fruit , silk and ribons , than in his fathers time ; so that instead of 900 l. per annum , he now brings home of consumable commodities , to the value of 1100 l. yearly . what comes of this ? he lives in splendor , 't is true , but this unavoidably carries away the money his father got , and he is every year 100 l. poorer . to his expences , beyond his income , add debauchery , idleness , and quarrels , amongst his servants , whereby his manufactures are disturbed , and his business neglected , and a general disorder and confusion through his whole family and farm ; this will tumble him down the hill the faller , and the stock , the industry , frugality , and good order of his father had laid up● will be quickly brought to an end , and he fast in prison . a farm and a kingdom in this respect di●●er no more than as greater and less . we may trade , and be busie , and grow poor by it , unless we regulate our expenses ; if to this we are idle , negligent , di●honest , malitious , and disturb the sober and industrious in their business , let it be upon what pretence it will , we shall ruine the faster . so that whatever this author , or any one else may say , money is brought into england by nothing but spending here less of foreign commodities , than what we carry to market can pay for ; nor can debts we owe to foreigners be paid by bills of exchange , till our commodities exported , and sold beyond sea , have produced money or debts due there , to some of our merchants ; for nothing will pay debts but money or moneys worth , which three or four lines writ in paper cannot be ; for if they have an intrinsick value , and can serve instead of money , why do we not send them to market instead of our cloth , lead and tin ? and at an easier rate purchase the commodities we want . all that a bill of exchange can do , is to direct to whom money due , or taken up upon credit in a foreign country , shall be paid ; and if we trace it , what is due already , we shall find , became so , for commodities , or money , carried from hence ; and if it be taken up upon credit , it must ●et the debt be shif●●d from one creditor to another as often as you will ) at last be paid by money or goods , carried from hence , or else the merchant here must turn bankrupt . we have seen how riches and money are got , kept , or lost , in any country ; and that is by consuming less of foreign commodities than what , by commodities or labour is paid for . this is in the ordinary course of things : but where great armies and alliances are to be maintain'd abroad by supplies sent out of any country , there often , by a shorter and more sensible way , the treasure is diminished . but this , since the holy war , or at least since the improvement of navigation and trade , seldom happening to england , whose princes have found the enlarging their power by sea , and the securing our navigation and trade , more the interest of this kingdom than wars or conquests on the continent ; expences in arms beyond sea have had little influence on our riches or poverty . the next thing to be considered , is , how money is necessary to trade . the necessity of a certain proportion of money to trade , ( i conceive ) lyes in this , that money in its circulation driving the several wheels of trade , whilst it keeps in that channel ( for some of it will unavoidably be dreined into standing pools ) is all shared between the land-holder , whose land a●●ords the materials ; the labourer , who works them ; the broker , ( i. e. ) merchant and shop keeper , who distributes them to those that want them : and the consumer , who spends them . now money is necessary to all these sorts of men , as serving both for counters and for pledges , and so carrying with it even reckoning and security that he that receives it shall have the same value for it again , of other things that he wants , whenever he pleases . the one of these it does by its stamp and denomination ; the other by its intrinsick value , which is nothing else but its durableness , scarcity , and not being apt to be counterfeited . which intrinsick value , though it be not natural , but is only in the opinion of men consenting to it , yet being universal , has generally , but not always , ( for we see that in a siege or man of war silver may not be of equal value to gunpowder , and in a famine gold not be worth its weight in bran ) the same effect as if it were natural the necessity therefore of a proportion of money to trade , depends on money , not as counters for the reckoning may be kept or transferred by writing , but on money as a pledge . for since the bill , bond , or other note of debt , i receive from one man , will not be accepted as security by another , he not knowing that the bill or bond is true or legal , or that the man bound to me is honest or responsible ; and so is not valuable enough to become a current pledge , nor can by publick authority be well made so , as in the case of assigning of bills ; because a law cannot give to bills that intrinsick value , which the universal consent of mankind has annexed to silver and gold. and hence foreigners can never be brought to take your bills or writings for any part of payment , though perhaps they might pass as valuable considerations among your own people , did not this very much hinder it , viz. that they are liable to unavoidable doubt , dispute and counterfeiting , and require other proofs to assure us they are true and good security , than our eyes or a touchstone . and at best this course , if practicable , will not hinder us from being poor ; but may be suspected to help to make us so , by keeping us from feeling our poverty , which in distress will be sure to find us with greater disadvantage . though it be certain it is better than letting any part of our trade fall for want of current pledges ; and better too than borrowing money of our neighbours upon use , if this way of assigning bills can be made so easie , safe and universal at home , as to hinder it . to return to the business in hand , and shew the necessity of a proportion of money to trade : every man therefore must have at least so much money , or so timely recruits , as may in hand , or in a short distance of time , satisfie the man who supplies him with the necessaries of life , or of his trade . for no body has any longer these necessary supplies than he has money or credit , which is nothing else but an assurance of money in some short time . so that it is requisite to trade there should be so much money as to keep up the landholders , labourers and brokers credit ; and therefore ready money must be constantly exchang'd for wares and labour , or follow within a short time after . this shews the necessity of some proportion of money to trade ; but what proportion that is , is hard to determine , because it depends not barely on the quantity of money , but the quickness of its circulation ; which since it cannot be easily traced , for the very same shilling may at one time pay 20 men in 20 days , at another , rest in the same hands 100 days together ; to make some probable guess , we are to consider how much money it is necessary to suppose must rest constantly in each man's hands , as requisite to the carrying on of trade . first therefore the labourers , living generally but from hand to mouth , and indeed , considered as labourers in order to trade , may well enough carry on their part , if they have but money enough to buy victuals , cloaths , and tools ; all which may very well be provided , without any great sum of money lying still in their hands . the labourers therefore being usually paid once a week , ( if the times of payment be seldomer , there must be more money for the carrying on this part of trade ) we may suppose there is constantly amongst them , one with another , or those who are to pay them , always one weeks wages in ready money . for it cannot be thought that all or most of the labourers pay away all their wages constantly as soon as they receive it , and live upon trust till next pay day . this the farmer and tradesman could not well bear , were it every labourer's case , and every one to be trusted ; and therefore they must of necessity keep some money in their hands to go to market for victuals , and to other tradesmen , as poor as themselves , for tools ; and lay up money too to buy cloaths , or pay for those they bought upon credit : which money thus necessarily resting in their hands , we cannot imagine to be one with another much less than a weeks wages , that must be in their pockets , or ready in the farmer 's hands . for he who employs a labourer at 1 s. per day , and pays him on saturday nights , cannot be supposed constantly to receive that 6 s. just the same saturday ; it must ordinarily be in his hand● one time with another , if not a whole week , yet several days before . this was the ordinary course , whil'st we had money running in the several channels o● commerce : but that now very much failing , and the farmer not having money to pay the labourer , supplies him with corn , which in this great plenty the labourer will have at his own rate , or else not take it off his hands for wages and as for the workmen who are employed in our manufacture , especially the woollen one , these the clothier not having ready money to pay , furnishes with the necessaries of life , and so truck commodities for work , which , such as they are , good or bad , the workman must take at his master's rate , or sit still and starve , whil'st by this means this new sort of ing●oners or ●oresta●lers , having the feeding and supplying this numerous body of workmen out of their warehouses , ( for they have now magazines of all sorts of wares ) set the price upon the poor landholder . so that the markets now being destroyed , and the farmer not finding vent there for his butter , cheese , bacon and corn , &c. for which he was wont to bring home ready money , must sell it to these ingrossers , on their own terms of time and rate , and allow it to their own day-labourers under the true market-price ; which what kind of influence it is like to have upon land , and how this way rents are like to be paid at quarter-day , is easie to apprehend ; and 't is no wonder to hear every day of farmers breaking and running away ; for if they cannot receive money for their goods at market , 't will be impossible for them to pay their landlord's rent : and if any one doubt whether this be so , i desire him to enquire how many farmers in the west are broke and gone since michaelmas last . want of money being to this degree , works both ways upon the landholder . for first , the ingrossing forestaller lets not the money come to market ; but supplying the workman , who is employed by him in manufacture , with necessaries , imposes his price and forbearance on the farmer , who cannot sell to the others . and the labourer , who is employed by the landholder in husbandry , imposes also his rate on him for the commodities he takes . for there being a want of day-labourers in the country , they must be humoured , or else they will neither work for you , nor take your commodities for their labour . secondly , as for the landholder , since his tenants cannot coin their rent just at quarter-day , but must gather it up by degrees , and lodge it with them till pay-day , or borrow it of those who have it lying by them , or do gather it up by degrees , which is the same thing , and must be necessarily so much money for some time lying still ; for all that is paid in great sums must somewhere be gathered up by the retail incomes of a trade , or else lye still too in great sums , which is the same stop of money , or a greater . add to this , that to pay the creditor that lent him his rent , he must gather up money by degrees , as the sale of his commodities shall bring it in , and so makes a greater stop and greater want of money , since the borrowed money that paid the landholder the 25th of march , must be supposed to lye still some time in the creditor's hand , before he lent it the tenant ; and the money that pays the creditor three months after must lye still some time in the tenant's . nor does the landlord pay away his rent usually as soon as he receives it , but by degrees , as his occasions call for it ; we cannot but suppose that between the landlord and tenant there must necessarily be at least ¼ of the yearly revenue of the land constantly in their hands . indeed considering that most part of the rents of england being paid at our lady-day and michaelmas , and that the same money which pays me my rent from my tenant the 25th of march , or thereabouts , cannot pay my next neighbour his rent from his tenant at the same time , much less one more remote in another country ; it might seem requisite to suppose half the yearly revenue of the land to be necessarily employed in paying of rent . for to say that some tenants break and pay not their rent at all , and others pay not till two , three , four , five , six , &c. months after quarter-day , and so the rent is not all paid at one time , is no more than to say , that there is money wanting to the trade : for if the tenant fail the landlord , he must fail his creditor , and he his , and so on , till somebody break , and so trade decay for want of money . but since a considerable part of the land of england is in the owners hands , who neither pay nor receive great sums for it at a certain day ; and because too , ( which is the chief reason ) we are not to consider here how much money is in any one man's , or any one sort of mens hands at any one time ; for that at other t●mes may be distributed into other hands , and serve other parts of trade ; but how much money is necessary to be in each man's hands all the year round , taking one time with another , ( i. e. ) having 200 l. in his hand one month , is to be reckon●d as 100 l. in his hand three months , and so proportionably ) i think we may well suppose ¼ of the yearly revenue to be constantly in the landlords or tenants hands ; where● by the by , we may observe , that it were better for trade , and consequent●y for every body , ( ●or more money wo●●d be stirring , and less would do t●e business ) if rents were paid by 〈◊〉 in●●rvals than six months . for su●●●sing i let a farm at 52 l. per an. i● my rent be paid half yearly , there is re●●●●ed 26 l. to be employed in the payment of it in ●ne entire sum. ( if it ●e paid well , and if it be not paid well , 〈◊〉 ●●nt of so 〈◊〉 money to be spared to that purpose , there is so much want of money , and trade is still endamag'd by it ) a great part whereof must necessarily lie still before it come out of my tenants chest to my hands : if it be paid once a quarter 13 l. alone will do it , and less money is laid up for it , and stop'd a less while in its course ; but should it be paid every week , one single 20 s. will pay the rent of 52 l. per annum , whence would follow this double benefit ; first , that a great deal less money would serve for the trade of a country ; and secondly , that less of the money would lie still , the contrary whereof must needs happen where growing debts are to be paid at larger distances , and in greater sums . thirdly , as for the brokers , since they too must lay up the money coming in by retail , either to go to market , and buy wares , or to pay at the day appointed , which is often six months ; for those wares they have already , we cannot suppose them to have less by them , one with another , than one twentieth part of their yearly returns , whether the money be their own , or they be indebted so much or more it matters not , if it be nece●sary they should have constantly by them , comparing one time with another , at least one twentieth part of their yearly return : indeed in some great towns , where the bankers are ready at hand to buy bills , or any other way to lend money , for short time at great interest , there perhaps the merchant is not forced to keep so much money by him , as in other places , where they have not such a supply . but if you consider , what money to do this must necessarily be constantly lodg'd in the bankers hands ; to which , if you add , what part of the money of a country scholars of all sorts , women , gamesters , and great mens menial servants , and all such that do not contribute at all to trade , either as landholders , labourers , or brokers , will unavoidably have constantly in their hands , it cannot well be thought , that less than one fiftieth part of the labourers wages , one fourth part of the landholders yearly revenue , and one twentieth part of the brokers yearly returns in ready money , will be enough to drive the trade of any country . at least to put it beyond exception low enough ; it cannot be imagin'd that less than one moiety of this , i. e. less than one hunderd part of the labourers yearly wages , one eighth part of the landholders yearly revenue , and one fortieth part of the brokers yearly returns , in ready money , can be enough to move the several wheels of trade , and keep up commeree in that life and thriving posture it should be ; and how much the ready cash of any country is short of this proportion , so much must the trade be impair'd and hindred for want of money ; but however these measures may be mistaken , this is evident , that the multiplying of brokers hinders the trade of any country by making the circulation , the money goes larger , and in that circuit more stops , so that the returns must necessarily be flower and ●cantier , to the prejudice of trade : besides that , they eat up too great a share of the gains of trade , by that means starving the labourer , and impoverishing the landholder , whose interest is chiefly to be taken care of , it being a settled unmoveable concernment in the commonwealth ; and therefore it would be convenient to hinder , as much as is possible , any one from selling any of our native commodities but he that makes it ; shopkeepers in this being worse than gamesters ; for they do not only keep so much of the money of a country constantly in their hands , but also make the publick pay them for their keeping of it ; though gaming too , upon the account of trade , ( as well as other reasons ) may well deserve to be restrain'd , since gamesters , in order to their play , keep great sums of money by them , which there lies dead ; for though gamesters money shift masters oftner than any , and is tumbled up and down with every cast of a die , yet as to the publick lies perfectly still , and no more of it comes into trade than they spend in lating or wearing . here too we may observe , how much manufacture deserves to be incourag'd , since that part of trade , though the most considerable , is driven with the least money , especially if the workmanship be more worth than the materials ; for to the trade that is driven by labour and handicrafts men , one two and fiftieth part of the yearly money paid them will be sufficient ; but to a trade of commodities of our bare native growth , much greater proportion of money is requir'd . perhaps it will be wondered , why having given some estimate ( how wide i know not ) of the money necessary in the hands of the landholder , labourer , and br●ker , to carry on trade , i have said nothing of the consumer , whom i had mentioned before ; but to this i answer , there are so few consumers , who are not either labourers , brokers , or landholders : ( for those who immediately depend on the landholder , as his children and servants , come in under that title , being maintained by the rent of his land , and so of the rest ) that they make a very inconsiderable part in the account . by what has been said , we may see what injury the lowering of interest is like to do us by hindering trade , when it shall either make the foreigner call home his money , or your own people backward to lend , the reward not being judged proportionable to the risque . there is another seeming consequence , of the reducing of money to a low price , which at first sight has such an appearance of truth in it , that i have known it impose upon very able men , and i guess has no small influence at this time in the promoting this alteration a●d that is , that the lowering of interest will raise the value of all other things in proportion . for money being the c●unter-ballance to all other things purchasable by it and lying , at it were , in the opposite scale of commerce , it looks like a natural consequence , that as much as you take off from the value of money 〈◊〉 much you add to the price of other things which are exchanged for it ; the raising of the price of any thing being no more but the addition to its value in respect of money , or , which is all one , lessening the value of money . for example : should the value of gold be brought down to that of silver , 100 guineas would purchase little more corn , wool , or land , than 100 shillings , and so the value of money being brought lower , say they , the price of other things will rise ; and the falling of interest from 6 to 4 per cent. is taking away so much of the price of money and so consequently the lessening its value . the mistake of this plausible way of reasoning will be easily discovered , when we consider that the measure of the value of money , in proportion to any thing purchasable by it , is the quantity of the ready money we have in comparison with the quantity of that thing and its vent ; ( which vent depends upon its necessity or usefulness , as convenience of life or opinion , guided by fansie or fashion , shall determine ) or which amounts to the same thing , the price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyers and sellers ● whereby the vent comes to be increased or decreased , as a greater part of the money we have is designed to be laid out by several people , at the same time , rather in one thing than another , as we see in the change of fashions ; this rule holds universally in all things that are to be bought and sold , bateing now and then an extravagant phancy of some particular person , which never amounts to so considerable a part of trade as to make any thing in the account worthy to be thought an exception to this rule . i shall begin first with the necessaries or conveniencies of life , and the consumable commodities subservient thereunto ; and shew , that the value of money in respect of those depends only on the plenty or scarcity of money in proportion to the plenty and scarcity of those things , and not on what interest shall be by necessity , law or contract at that time laid on the borrowing of money : and then afterwards i shall shew that the same holds in land. there is nothing more confirmed by daily experience , than that men give any portion of money for whatsoever is absolutely necessary , rather than go without it : and in such things , the scarcity of them alone makes their prices . as for example : let us suppose 1 / ● ounce of silver , or half a crown now in england , is worth a bushel of wheat ; but should there be next year a great scarcity of wheat in england , and a proportionab●e want of all other food , five ounces of siver would perhaps in exchange purchase but one bushel of wheat , so that money would be then 9 / 10 less worth in respect o● food , though at the same value it was before , in respect of other things that kept their former proportion in their quantity and consumption . by the like proportions of increase and decrease , does the value of things more or less convenient rise and fall in respect of money , only with this difference , that things absolutely necessary for life must be had at any rate ; but things convenient will be had only as they stand in preference with other conveniencies ; and therefore in any one of these commodities , the value rises only as its quantity is less , and vent greater , which depends upon its being p●eferr'd to other things in its consumption ; for supposing that at the same time that there is a g●●at scarcity of wh●●t , and other grain , there were a considerable quantity of o●●s , men no question would give far more for wheat than oats , as being the healthier , pleasanter , and more convenient food ; but since oats would serve to supply that absolute necessity of sustaining life , men would not rob themselves of all other conveniencies of life , by paying all their money for wheat , when oats that are cheaper , though with some inconvenience , would supply that defect . it may then so happen at the same time , that half an ounce of silver , that the year before would buy one bushel of wheat , will this year buy but 1 / 10 of a bushel : half an ounce of silver , that the year before would have bought three bushels of oats , will this year still buy one bushel ; and at the same time half an ounce of silver , that would the year before have bought 15 pounds of lead , will still buy the same quantity . so that at the same time silver , in respect of wheat , is 9 / 10 less worth than it was , in respect of oats ⅔ less worth , and in respect of lead , as much worth as before . the fall therefore or rise of interest , making neither more or less land , money , or any sort of commodity in england , than there was before ; immediately by its change alters not at all the value of money , in reference to commodities ; because the measure of that is only the quantity and vent which are not immediately chang'd by the change of interest , but only as the change of interest in trade conduces to the bringing in or carrying out money or commodity , and so in time varying their proportion here in england from what it was before , which is not in this place to be considered . this is perfectly the value of money in respect of consumable commodities : but the better to understand it in its full latitude , in respect both of consumable commodities , and land too , we must consider , first , that the value of land consists in this , that by its constant production of saleable commodities it brings in a certain yearly income . secondly , the value of commodities consists in this , that as portable and useful things , they , by their exchange or consumption , supply the necessaries or conveniencies of life . thirdly , in m●r●y there is a double value , answering to both of these first , as it is capable by its interest to yield us such an yearly income ; and in this it has the nature of land , the income of one being called ren● , of the other , use ; only with this difference , that the land in its soil being different , as some fertile , some barren , and the products of it very various , both in their sorts , and value too , according as their quantity and vent , varies ; but money● constantly the same , and by its interest giving the same sort of product through the whole country , is capable of having a sixed yearly rate set upon it by the magistrate ; but ●and is not . but though in the uniformity of its legal worth , 100 l. of lawful money being all through england equal in its current value to any other 100 l. of lawful money , ( because by vertue of the law it will every where pass for as much ware or debt , as any other hundred pounds ) is capable to have its yearly hire valued better than land : yet in respect of the varying need , and necessity of money , ( which changes with the encrease or decay of money or trade in a country ) it is as little capable to have its yearly hire fixed by law , as land it self . for were all the land in rumney-marsh , acre for acre , equally good , that is , did constantly produce the same quantity of equally good hay or grass , one as another , the rent of it , under that consideration of every acre being of an equal worth , would be capable of being regulated by law ; and one might as well enact , that no acre of land in rumney-marsh shall be let for above 40 s. per an. as that no 100 l. shall be let for above 4 l. per an. but no body can think it fit ( since by reason of the equal value of that land it can ) that therefore the rent of the land in rumney-marsh should be regulated by law. for supposing all the land in rumney-marsh , or in england , were all of so equal a worth , that any one acre , compar'd at the same time to any one other , were equally good in respect of its product , yet the same acre , compar'd with it self in different times , would not in respect of rent be of equal value ; and therefore it would have been an unreasonable thing , if in the time of henry ● the rent of land in rumney-marsh had been settled by a law , according to the judg'd value of it at that time , and the same law , limiting the rent perhaps to 5 s. per acre , have continued still . the absurdity and impracticableness of this every one sees at the first proposal , and readily concludes within himself , that things must be left to find their own price● and it is impossible in this their constan● mutability for human foresight to se● rules and bounds to th● constantly-varying proportion and use , which will alway● regulate their value . they who consider things beyond their names , will find , that money , as well as all other commodities , is liable to the same changes and inequalities : nay in this respect of the variety of its value brought in by time in the succession of affairs , the rate of money is less capable of being regulated by a law in any country than the rent of land ; because of the quick changes that happen in trade this too must be added , that money may be brought in or carried out of the kingdom , which land cannot ; and so that be truly worth 6 or 8 per cent. this year , which would yield but 4 the last . 2. money has a value , as it is capable by exchange to procure us the necessaries or conveniencies of life ; and in this it has the nature of a commodity , only with this difference , that it serves us commonly by its exchange , never almost by its consumption ; but has not at all a more standing settled value in exchange with any other thing , than any other commodity has , but a more known one , and better sixed by name , number and weight , to enable us to reckon what the proportion of scarcity and vent of one commodity is to another . for supposing , as before , that half an ounce of silver would last year exchange for one bushel of wheat , or for 15 l. weight of lead ; if this year wheat be 10 times scarcer , and lead in the same quantity to its vent as it was , is it not evident that half an ounce of silver will still exchange for 15 l. of lead , though it will exchange but for one tenth of a bushel of wheat ; and he that has use of lead will as soon take 15 l. weight of lead , as ● ounce of silver , for one tenth of a bushel of wheat , and no more ; so that if you say that money now is 9 / 10 less worth than it was the former year , you must say so of lead too , and all other things that keep the same proportion to money they were in before ; only this variation is first observed in money , because it is the measure by which people reckon . for calling that half ounce of silver half a crown , they are understood better when they say , half a crown , or two shilling● and six pence , will now but 1 / 10 of a bushel of wheat , but do not say , that 15 l. of lead will now but 1 / 10 of a bushe● of wheat , because it is not generally used to this sort of reckoning ; nor do the● say lead is less worth than it was , though in respect of wheat lead be 〈…〉 worse than it was , as well as silver ; only by the tale of shillings we are better enabled to judge of it . this i suppose is the true value of m●●ney when it passes from one to anothe● in buying and selling ; where it runs the same changes of higher and lower , as an● other commodity doth ; for one equ●● quantity whereof you shall receive more or less of another commodity at on● time than you do at another in exchange for a farmer that carries a bushel ● wheat to market , and a labourer th●● carries half a crown , shall find that the money of one , as well as corn of the other , shall at some times purchase him more or less leather or salt , according as they are in greater plenty and scarcity one to another . so that in exchange of coin'd silver for any other commodity , which is buying and selling , the same measure governs the proportion you receive , as if you exchang'd lead or wheat , or any other commodity , which is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their vent . if then change of use makes not your silver more in sp●ci● , or your wheat or other commodities less , it will not have any influence at all to make it exchange for less of wheat , or any other commodity , than it will have on lead , to make it exchange for less wheat , or any other commodity . money therefore in buying and selling being perfectly in the same condition with other commodities , and subject to all the same laws of value , let us next see how it comes to be of the same nature with land , by yielding a certain yearly income , which we call use or interest . for land produces naturally something new and profitable , and of value to mankind ; but money is a barren thing , and produces nothing , but by compact transfers that profit that was the reward of one man's labour into another man's pocket . that which occasions this , is the unequal distribution of money ; which inequality has the same effect too upon land that it has upon money . for my having more money in my hand than i can , or am dispos'd to use in buying and selling , makes me able to lend ; and another's want of so much money as he could employ in trade , makes him willing to borrow . but why then , and for what consideration doth he pay use ? for the same reason , and upon as good consideration , as the tenant pays rent for your land. for as the unequal distribution of land , ( you having more than you can or will manure , and another less ) brings you a tenant for your land ; and the same unequal distribution of money , ( i having more than i can or will employ , and another less ) brings me a tenant for my money : so my money is apt in trade , by the industry of the borrower , to produce more than 6 per cent. to the borrower , as well a● your land , by the labour of the tenant , is apt to produce more fruits than his rent comes to ; and therefore deserves to be paid for , as well as land , by an yearly rent . for though the usurer's money would bring in no yearly profit , if he did not lend it , ( suppo●ing he employ it not himself ) and so his six per cent. may seem to be the fruit of another mans labour , yet he shares not near so much of the profit of anothers mans labour , as he that lets land to a tenant ; for without the tenants industry ( supposing as before , the owner would not manage it himself ) his land would yield him little or no profit ; so that the rent he receives is a greater portion of the fruit of his tenants labour than the use is at 6 per cent , for generally he that borrows 1000 l. at six per cent. and so pays 60 l. per a●num use , gets more above his use in one year , by his industry , than he that rents a farm of 60 l. per annum gets in two above his rent , though his labour be harder . it being evident therefore that he that has skill in traffick , but has not money enough to exercise it , has not only reason to borrow money to drive his trade , and get a livelyhood , but as much reason to pay use for that money , as he that not having land of his own , yet has skill in husbandry , has not only reason to rent land , but to pay money for the use of it ; it follows , that borrowing money upon use is not only by the necessity of affairs , and the constitution of humane society● unavoidable to some men , but that also to receive profit for the loan of money , is as equitable and lawful , as receiving rent for land , and more tolerable to the borrower , notwithstanding the opinion of some over-scrupulous men. this being so , one would expect , that the rate of interest should be the measure of the value of land in number of years purchase , for which the fee is sold ; for 100 l. per annum being equal to 100 l. per annum , and so to perpetuity . and 100 l. per annum being the product● of 1000 l. when interest is at 10 per cent. of 1250 l. when interest is at 8 per cent. of 1666 l. or thereabouts , when interest is at 6 per cent. of 2000 l. when money is at 5 per cent. of 2500 l. when money is at 4 per cent. one would conclude , i say , that land should sell in proportion to use , according to these following rates , viz. when money is at 10 per cent. for 10 years purchase . when money is at 8 per cent. for 12 1 / ● years purchase . when money is at 6 per cent. for 16 ● / ● years purchase . when money is at 5 per cent. for 20 years purchase . when money is at 4 per cent. for 25 years purchase . but experience tells us , that neither in queen elizabeth , nor king iames the first reigns , when interest was at ten per cent. was land sold for ten ; or when it was at eighth per cent , for 12 ½ years purchase , or any thing near the low rate that high use requir'd ( if it were true , that the rate of interest govern'd the price of land ) any more than land , now yields 25 years purchase , because a great part of the monied men will now lett their money upon good security at four per cent. thus we see in fact how little this rule has held at home ; and he that will look into holland , will find that the purchase of land was not raised there when their interest fell . this is certain , and past doubt , that the legal interest can never regulate the price of land , since it is plain , that the price of land has never changed with it in the several changes have been made in the rate of interest by law , nor now that the rate of interest is by law the same through all england , is the price of land every where the same , it being in some parts constantly sold for 4 or 5 years purchase more than in others . whether you or i can tell the reason of this , it matters not to the question in hand , but it being really so , this is plain demonstration against those who pretend to advance and regulate the price of land by a law , concerning the interest of money . but yet i will give you some of my guesses , why the price of land is not regulated ( as at first sight it seems it should be ) by the interest of money . why it is not regulated by the legal use is manifest , because the rate of money does not follow the standard of the law , but the price of the market ; and men not observing the legal and forced , but the natural and current interest of money , regulate their affairs by that ; but why the rate of land does not follow the current interest of money requires a farther consideration . all things that are bought and sold , raise and fall their price in proportion , as there are more buyers or sellers : where are a great many sellers to a few buyers , there use what art you will , the thing to be sold will be cheap ; on the other side , turn the tables , and raise up a great many buyers for a few sellers , and the same thing will immediately grow dear ; this rule holds in land as well as all other commodities , and is the reason , why in england at the same time , that land in some places is at seventeen or eighteen years purchase , it is about others , where there are pro●itable manu●actures at two or three and twenty years purchase ; because there ( men thriving and getting money by their industry , and willing to leave their estates to their children in land , as the surest , and most lasting provision , and not so liable to casualties as money in untrading or unskillful hands ) there are many buyers ready always to purchase , but few sellers , for the land thereabout being already possessed by that sort of industrious and thriving men , they have neither need , nor will , to sell : in such places of manufacture , the riches o● the one not arising from the squandring and waste of another , ( as it doth in other places where men live lazily upon the product of the land ) the industry of the people bringing in increase of wealth from remote parts , makes plenty of money there without the impoverishing of their neighbours . and when the thriving tradesman has got more than he can well employ in trade , his next thoughts are to look out for a purchase , but it must be a purchase in the neighbourhood , where the estate may be under his eye , and within convenient distance , that the care and pleasure of his farm may not take him off from the engagements of his calling , nor remove his children too far from him , or the trade he breeds them up in ; and this seems to me the reason , why in places wherein thriving manufactures have erected themselves , land has been observed to sell quicker , and for more years purchase than in others , as about hallifax in the north , taunton and exeter in the west . this is that then which makes land as well as other things dear ; plenty of buyers , and but few sellers ; and so by the rule of contraries , plenty of sellers and few buyers makes land cheap . he that will justly estimate the value of any thing , must consider its quantity , in proportion to its vent , for this alone regulates the price ; for the value of any thing , compar'd with its self , or with a standing measure , is greater , as its quantity is less in proportion to its vent ; but in comparing it , or exchanging it with any other thing , the quantity and vent too of that must be allowed for in the computation of their value . but because the desire of money is constantly , almost every where the same , its vent varies very little ; but as its greater scarcity enhanses its price , and increases the scramble , there being nothing else that does easily supply the want of it the le●sening its quantity , therefore , always increase● its price , and makes an equal portion of it exchange for a greater of any other thing . thus it comes to pass , that there is no manner of settled proportion between the value of an ounce of silver , and any other commodity ; for either varying its quantity in that country , or the commodity changing its quantity in proportion to its vent , their respective values change , i. e. less of one will barter for more of the other ; though in the ordinary way of speaking , 't is only said , that the price of the commodity , not of the money is changed . for example , half an ounce of silver in england , will exchange sometimes for a bushel of wheat , sometimes for ½ , sometimes but ¼ , &c. and this it does equally , whether by use it be apt to bring in to the owner 6 / 100 of its own weight per annum , or nothing at all ; it being only the change of the quantity of wheat to its vent , supposing we have still the same summ of money in the kingdom ; or else the change of the quantity of our money in the kingdom , supposing the quantity of wheat , in respect to its vent be the same too , that makes the change in the price of wheat ; for if you alter the quantity or vent on either side , you presently alter the price , but no other way in the world. for it is not the being , adding , increasing or diminishing of any good quality in any commodity that makes its price greater or less , but only as it makes its quantity or vent greater or less , in proportion one to another . this will easily appear by two or three instances . 1. the being of any good and useful quality in any thing , neither increases its price , nor indeed makes it have any price at all , but only as it lessens its quantity or increases its vent , each of these in proportion to one another . what more useful or necessary things are there to the being or well-being of men , than air and water , and yet these have generally no price at all , nor yield any money , because their quantity is immensly greater than their vent in most places of the world ; but , as soon as ever water ( for air still offers its self every where , without restraint or inclosure , and therefore is no where of any price ) comes any where to be reduced into any proportion to its consumption , it begins presently to have a price , and is sometimes sold dearer than wine ; and hence it is , that the best and most useful things are commonly the cheapest , because , though their consumption be great , yet the bounty of providence has made their production large and suitable to it . 2. nor does the adding an excellency to any commodity , raise its price , unless it increase its consumption . for suppose there should be taught a way ( which should be published to the knowledge of every one ) to make a medicine of wheat alone , that should infallibly cure the stone , 't is certain the discovery of this quality in that grain , would give it an excellency very considerable ; and yet this would not increase the price of it one farthing in twenty bushels , because its quantity or vent would not hereby , to any sensible degree , be alter'd . 3. neither does the increasing of any good quality , in any sort of things make it yield more ; for though teasels be much better this year than they were last , they are not one jot dearer , unless they be fewer too , or the consumption of them greater . 4. nor does the lessening the good qualities of any sort of commodity lessen its price ; which is evident in hops , that are usually dearest those years they are worst . but if it happen to be a species of commodity , whose defects may be supplyed by some other , the making of it worse does lessen its price , because it hinders its vent ; for if rye should any year prove generally smutty or grown , no question it would yield less money than otherwise , because the deficiency of that might be , in some measure , made up by wheat and other grain ; but if it be a sort of commodity whose use no other known thing can supply , 't is not its being better or worse , but its quantity and vent is that alone which regulates and determines its value . to apply this now to money as capable of different rates of interest , considering money in its proper use , as a commodity passing in exchange from one to another , all that is done by interest is but adding to money by agreement or publick authority , which naturally it hath not , viz. a faculty of increasing every year six per cent ; now if publick authority sink use to four per cent. 't is certain it diminishes this good quality in money 1 / ● but yet this making the money of england not one farthing more than it was , it alters not the measures upon which all changeable commodities increase or sink their price , and so makes not money exchange for less of any commodity than it would without this alteration of its interest ; but rather if lessening use to four per cent. does at all alter the quantity of money and makes it less ; it makes money as it has the nature of a commodity dearer , i. e. a less quantity of money will exchange for a greater quantity of another commodity than it would before . this perhaps will appear a little plainer by these following particulars . 1. that the intrinsick natural worth of any thing , consists in this , that it is apt to be serviceable to the necessities or conveniencies of human life , and it is naturally more worth , as the necessity or conveniency it supplies is greater ; but yet , 2. that there is no such intrinsick natural settled value in any thing , as to make any assigned quantity of it , constantly worth any assigned quantity of another . 3. the value of any assigned quantities of two or more commodities , are pro hic & nunc , equal , when they will exchange one for another ; as supposing one bushel of wheat , two bushels of barley , 30 l. of lead , and one ounce of silver , will now in the market be taken one for another , they are then of equal worth , and our coin being that which englishmen reckon by ; an englishman would say , that now one bushel of wheat , two bushels of barley , 30 l. of lead , one ounce of silver , were equally worth five shillings . 4. the altering of this value , two things in respect of one another , or any one standing common measure , is not the altering of any intrinsick value or quality in the commodity , ( for musty and smutty corn will sell dearer at one time than the clean and sweet at another ) but the alteration of some proportion , the commodity bears to something else . 5. this proportion in all commodities , whereof money is one , is the proportion of their quantity to the vent , which vent is nothing else but the passing of commodities from one owner to another in exchange , and is then called quicker , when a greater quantity of any species of commodity is taken off from the owners of it in an equal space of time . 6. this vent is regulated , i. e. made quicker or slower , as greater or less quantities of any saleable commodity are removed out of the way , and course of trade ; separated from publick commerce ; and no longer lie within the reach of exchange . for though any commodity should shift hands never so fast , and be exchanged from one man to another ; yet if they were not thereby exempted from trade and sale , and did not cease to be any longer traffick , this would not at all make , or quicken their vent ; but this seldom or never happening , makes very little or no alteration : and thus the vent is altered three ways ; 1. by consumption , when the commodity in its use is destroy'd , as meat , drink , and cloths , &c. all that is so consumed is quite gone out of the trade of the world. 2. exportation ; and all that is so carried away , is gone out of the trade of england , and concerns englishmen no more in the price of their commodities among themselves , than if it were out of the world. 3. buying and laying up for a mans private use. for what is by any of these ways shut out of the market , and no longer moveable by the hand of commerce , makes no longer any part of merchantable ware , and so in respect of trade , and the quantity of any commodity , is not more considerable than if it were not in being . all these three terminating at last in consumption of all commodities , ( excepting only jewels and plate , and some few others which wear out but insensibly ) may properly enough pass under that name . ingrossing too has some influence on the present vent , but this inclosing some considerable part of any commodity ( for if the ingrossing be of all the commodity , and it be of general use , the price is at the will of the ingrosser ) out of the free common of trade only for some time , and afterwards returning again to sale , makes not usually so sensible and general an alteration in the vent as the others do , but yet influences the price , and the vent more according as it extends its self to a larger portion of the commodity , and hoards it up longer . 7. most other portable commodities ( excepting jewels , plate , &c. ) decaying quickly in their use , but money being less consumed or increased , i. e. by slower degrees removed from , or brought into the free commerce of any country , than the greatest part of other merchandize ; and so the proportion between its quantity and vent , altering slower than in most other commodities , it is commonly look'd on as a standing measure to judge of the value of all things , especially being adapted to it by its weight and denomination in coinage . 8. money , whilst the same quantity of it is passing up and down the kingdom in trade , is really a standing measure of the falling and rising value of other things in reference to one another : and the alteration of price is truely in them only . but if you increase or lessen the quantity of money current in traffick in any place , then the alteration of value is in the money ; and if at the same time wheat keep its proportion of vent to quantity , money to speak truly alters its worth , and wheat does not , though it sell for a greater or less price than it did before ; for money being look'd upon as the standing measure of other commodities , men consider and speak of it still as if it were a standing measure , though when it has varied its quantity , 't is plain it is not . 9. but the value or price of all commodities , amongst which money passing in trade is truly one , consisting in proportion , you alter this , as you do all other proportions , whether you increase one or lessen the other . in all other commodities , the owners when they design them for traffick , endeavour as much as they can to have them vented and gone , i. e. removed out of the reach of commerce and exchange , by consumption , exportation , or laying up , which vent is sometimes slower , and sometimes quicker , but money never lying upon peoples hands , or wanting vent , ( for any one may part with it in exchange when he pleases ; ) the endeavour of the publick , and almost every body , is to keep it from venting or consuming , i. e. exportation or hoarding up , which is its proper consumption . the vent of money therefore being always sufficient , or more than enough , its quantity alone is enough to regulate and determine its value , without considering any proportion between its quantity and vent , as in other commodities . 10. therefore lessening of use , not bringing one penny of money more into the trade or exchange of any country , but rather drawing it away from trade , and so making it less , does not at all sink its value , and make it buy less of any commodity , but rather more . 11. that which raises the natural interest of money , is the same that raises the rent of land , ( i. e. ) its aptness to bring in yearly to him that manages it , a greater overplus of income above his rent , as a reward to his labour . that which causes this in land is the greater quantity of its product , in proportion to the same vent of that particular fruit , or the same quantity of product , in proportion to a greater vent of that single commodity ; but that which causes encrease of profit to the borrower of money , is the less quantity of money , in proportion to trade , or to the vent of all commodities , taken together , & vice versa . 12. the natural value of money , as it is apt to yield such an yearly income by interest , depends on the whole quantity of the then passing money of the kingdom , in proportion to the whole trade of the kingdom , ( i. e. ) the general vent of all the commodities . but the natural value of money , in exchanging for any one commodity , is the quantity of the trading money of the kingdom , designed for that commodity , in proportion to that single commodity and its vent . for though any single man's necessity and want , either of money , or any species of commodity , being known , may make him pay dearer for money , or that commodity ; yet this is but a particular case , that does not at the same time alter this constant and general rule . 13. that supposing wheat a standing measure , that is , that there is constantly the same quantity of it in proportion to its vent , we shall find money to run the same variety of changes in its value , as all other commodities do . now that wheat in england does come nearest to a standing measure , is evident , by comparing wheat with other commodities , money , and the yearly income of land in hen. 7. time and now . for supposing 1 hen. 7. n. let 100 acres of land to a. for 6 d. per an. per acre , rack-rent● and to b. another 100 acres of land , o● the same soil and yearly worth with the former , for a bushel of wheat per acre● rack-rent , ( a bushel of wheat about that time being probably sold for about 6 d. it was then an equal rent . if therefore these leases were for years yet to come 't is certain that he that paid 6 d. per acre . would pay now 50 s. per an. and he that paid a bushel of wheat per acre , would pay about 25 l. per an. which would be ne●r about the yearly value of the land● were it to be let now . the reason where of is this , that there being ten times a● much silver now in the world , ( the discovery of the w●st-indi●s having made the plenty ) as there was then , it is 9 / 1● less worth now than it was at that time ; that is , it will exchange for 9 / 1● less of any commodity now , which bears the same proportion to its vent as it did 200 years since ; which , of all other commodities● wheat is likeliest to do . for in england , and this part of the world , wheat being th● constant and most general food , not altering with the fashion , not growing by chance ; but as the farmers sow more or less of it , which they endeavour to proportion , as near as can be guessed , to the consumption , abstracting the over-plus of the precedent year in their provision for the next ; and vice versâ , it must needs fall out that it keeps the nearest proportion to its consumption , ( which is more studied and designed in this than other commodities ) of any thing , if you take it for 7 or 20 years together ; though perhaps the plenty or scarcity of one year , caused by the accidents of the season , may very much vary it from the immediately precedent , or the following . wheat therefore , in this part of the world , ( and that grain which is the constant general food of any other country ) is the fittest measure to judge of the alter'd value of things in any long tract of time : and therefore wheat here , rice in turkey , &c. is the fittest thing to reserve a rent in , which is designed to be constantly the same for all future ages . but money is the best measure of the alter'd value of things in a few years ; because its vent is the same , and its quantity alters slowly . but wheat , or any other grain , cannot serve instead of money● because of its bulkiness and too quick change of its quantity : for had i a bond , to pay me 100 bushels of wheat next year , it might be ¾ loss or gain to me ; too great an inequality and uncertainty to be ventur'd in trade , besides the different goodness of several parcels of wheat in the same year . 14. that supposing any island separate from the commerce of the rest of mankind , if gold and silver , or whatever else , ( so it be lasting ) be their money , if they have but a certain quantity of it , and can get no more , that will be a steady standing measure of the value of all other things . 15. that if in any country they use for money any lasting material , whereof there is not any more to be got , and so cannot be encreas'd , or being of no other use , the rest of the world does not value it , and so it is not like to be diminished ; this also would be a steady standing measure of the value of other commodities . 16. that in a country where they had such a standing measure , any quantity of that money ( if it were but so much that every body might have some ) would serve to drive any proportion of trade , whether more or less , there being counters enough to reckon by , and the value of the pledges being still sufficient , as constantly encreasing with the plenty of the commodity . but these three last , being built on suppositions that are not like to be found in the practice of mankind , since navigation and commerce have brought all parts acquainted with one another , and introduced the use of gold and silver money into all trading parts of the world ; they serve rather to give us some light into the nature of money , than to teach here a new measure of traffick , though it be certain , that that part of the world , which bred most of our gold and silver , used least of it in exchange , and used it not for money . 17. that therefore in any country that hath commerce with the rest of the world , it is almost impossible now to be without the use of silver coin , and having money of that , and accounts kept in such money , it is impossible to have any standing , unalterable measure of the value of things ; for whil'st the mines supply to mankind more than wastes and consumes in its use , the quantity of it will daily grow greater in respect of other commodities , and its value less . 18. that in a country that hath open commerce with the rest of the world , and uses money made of the same materials with their neighbours , any quantity of that money will not serve to drive any quantity of trade , but that there must be a certain proportion between money and trade : the reason whereof is this , because to keep your trade going without loss , your comodities amongst you , must keep an equal , or , at least , near the price of the same species of commodities in the neighbour countries , which they cannot do , if your money be far less than in other countries ; for then , either your commodities must be sold very cheap , or a great part of your trade must stand still ; there not being money enough in the country to pay for them ( in their shifting of hands ) at that high price which the plenty , and consequently low value of money makes them at in another country ; for the value of money in general is the quantity of all the money in the world , in proportion to all the trade ; but the value of money in any one country , is the present quantity of the current money in that country , in proportion to the present trade : supposing then , that we had now in england but half as much money as we had seven years ago , and yet had still as much yearly product of commodities , as many hands to work them , and as many brokers to disperse th●m as before , and that the rest of the world we trade with , had as much money as they had before ( for 't is likely they should have more by our moiety shared amongst them ) 't is certain , that either half our rents should not be paid , half our commodities not vented , and half our labourers not imployed , and so half the trade be clearly lost , or else that every one of these must receive but half the money for their commodities and labour they did before , and but half so much as our neighbours do receive for the same labour , and same natural product at the same time , which , though it will make no scarcity of our native commodities amongst us , yet it will have these ill consequences . 1. it will make our native commodities vent very cheap . 2. it will make all foreign commodities very dear , both which will keep us poor : for the merchant making silver and gold his measure , and considering what the foreign commodity costs him ( i. e. how many ounces of silver ) in the country where money is more plenty , i. e. cheaper , and considering too how many ounces of silver it will yield him in another country , will not part with it here , but for the same quantity of silver , or as much as that silver will buy here of our commodity , which will be a great deal more than in another place ; so that in all our exchange of native for foreign commodities , we pay double the value that any other country does , where money is in greater plenty : this indeed will make a dearness , and , in time , a scarcity of foreign commodities ; which is not the worst inconveniency that it brings upon us , supposing them not absolutely necessary : but 3. it endangers the drawing away our people , both handicrafts , mariners , and soldiers , who are apt to go where their pay is best ; which will always be where there is greatest plenty of money , and , in time of war , must needs bring great distress . 19. upon this measure too it is , that the variation of exchange of money , between several countries , does somewhat depend ; for it is certain , that one ounce of silver is always of equal value to another ounce of silver considered in its intrinsick worth , or in reference to the universal trade of the world ; but 't is not of the same value at the same time , in several parts of the world , but is of most worth in that country where there is the least money , in proportion to its trade ; and therefore men may afford to give 20 ounces of silver in one place , to receive 18 or 19 ounces of silver in another : but this is not all to this then , ( to find out the alteration of the exchange ) the over-ballance of the trade must be taken into consideration ; and these two together regulate the exchange in all the commerce of the world , and , in both the increase of the exchange ( i. e. receiving a greater quantity of silver ( for that is the measure , let the coin or the denomination be what it will ) in one country for a less quantity of silver paid in another country ) depends upon one and the same thing , viz. the greater plenty of money in one country than in the other , only with this difference , that where the over-ballance of trade raises the exchange above the par , there it is the plenty of money which private merchants have in one country , which they desire to remove into another : but where the riches of the country raises the exchange above the par , there it is the plenty of the money in the whole country . in one , the merchant has more money ( or debts , which is all one ) in a foreign country than his trade there will imploy , and so is willing to allow upon exchange to him abroad , that shall pay him ready money at home , 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. per cent. more or less , proportionably as his or his countrymens plenty of ready money abroad , the danger of leaving it there , or the difficulty of bringing it home in specie , and his present need of money at home is greater or lesi . in the other , the whole country has more money than can well be imploy'd in the trade thereof , or at least , the proportion of the money to the trade is greater than in the neighbouring country , where the exchange is below the par. for , supposing the ballance of trade to be equal between england and holland , but that there be in holland a greater plenty of money than in england , ( which will appear by the lowness of the national use in holland , and the heighth of the national use in england ; and also by the dearness of food and labour in general in holland , and the cheapness of it in england . ) if n. has 10000 l. in holland , which the greater advantage he could make of it in england , either by use or purchase , tempts him to transfer into england , 't is probable he will give as much to a merchant in holland to pay him 10000 l. in england , as the ensurance of that time between holland and england is worth ; which , if it be in a country where the exportation of bullion is prohibited , he must pay the more , because his venture , if he carry it in specie , will be greater ; and , upon this ground , perhaps the prohibiting the exportation of money out of england , under penalties , may be of some use , by making the rate of the exchange greater upon those countries who import upon us more than they export in commodities , and so retain some part of the money which their over-ballance of trade would carry away from us , though , after all , if we are over-ballanc'd in trade it must go . but , since the holland merchant cannot receive n — 's 10000 l. in money in holland , and pay him 10000 l. in england , unless his over-ballance of trade make english-men indebted to him 10000 l. in money , which he is not like to take in commodity . i think the over-ballance of trade is that which chiefly raises the exchange in any country , and that plenty of money in any country does it only for so much of the money as is transfer'd either to be let out to use , or to be spent there ; and though lending to foreigners , upon use , doth not at all alter the ballance of trade between those countries , yet it does alter the exchange between those countries for so much as is lent upon use , by not calling away the money that should follow the over-ballance of trade , but letting it rest there , as if it were accounted for ; all one as if the ballance of trade were for so much altered : but this being not much in comparison of the gener●● traffick between two nations , or at lea●● varying slower , the merchant too regulating the exchange , and not the usurer i suppose it is the present ballance of trade , on which the exchange immedi●ately and chiefly depends , unless some accident shall make a great deal of money be remitted at the same time , from one place to another , which will for the timeraise the exchange all one as an ove●-ballance of trade ; and indeed , when examin'd is generally very little different from it● to be able to estimate the par with the rise and fall of the exchange , it is necessary to know the intrinsick value , i● how much silver is in the coins of th● two countries , by which you reckon and charge the bill of exchange . sir , if i have been led a little too f●● from one thing to another , in the considerat●●on of money , i beg your pardon , h● pu●●● that these particulars will afford some lig●● to our present subject . to return to the price of land , by which has been abovesaid , it is evident that the years purchase of land do not increase with the fall of interest , and the abating that good quality in money of yielding yearly six p●r cen● . to four , does not presently so sink its value , in respect of land , that 1 / ● part more is requir'd in exchange : that is , that falling of interest from six to four , will not raise land from twenty to thirty years purchase . the raising and falling of the price of land , as of other things , depends much on the quantity of land , set to sale , compar'd with the quantity of money design'd for that traffick , or which amounts to the same thing , upon the number of buyers and sellers , for where there are many sellers and few purchasers , though interest be lessened , land will be cheap , as i have already shew'd . at least , this is certain , that making a law to reduce interest , will not raise the price of lands : it will only , by driving it more into the bankers hands , leave the country barer of money , whereby , if the price of land about london , should be accidently raised , that of remoter countries would thereby have fewer purchasers , and at lower rates . this being so , that the low rate of land depends much on the great number of sellers in proportion to purchasers , the next thing to be inquir'd into , is , what makes plenty of sellers ? and to that the answer is obvious , general ill husbandry ; and the consequence of it debts . if a neglect of government and religion , ill examples , and depraved education , have introduced debauchery ; and art or chance has made it fashionable for men to live beyond their estates , debts will increase and multiply , and draw with them a necessity on men , first of incumbring , and then selling their estates ; this is generally the cause why men part with their land : and i think there is scarce one of an hundred that thinks of selling his patrimony till mortgages have pretty well eat into the freehold ; and the weight of growing debts force a man , whether he will or no , out of his possessions . when almost is there ever a clear and unincumbred estate set to sale ? 't is seldom a thriving man turns his land into money to make the greater advantage . the examples of it are so rare , that they are scarce of any consideration in the number of sellers . this i think may be the reason , why in queen elizabeth's days ( when sobriety , frugality , and industry , brought in dai●y increase , to the growing wealth of the kingdom ) ●and kept up its price , and sold for more years purchase than corresponded to the interest of money , then busily imploy●d in a thriving trade , which made the natural interest much higher than it is now , as well as the parliament then set it higher by law. on the contrary side , what makes scarcity of purchasers ; 1. the same reason , ill husbandry ; when the tradesman lives up to the height of his income , and the vanity of expences either drains the merchants coffers , or keeps them from over-flowing , he seldom thinks of purchasing : buying of land is the result of a full and satiated gain , and men in trade seldom think of laying out their money upon land , till their profit has brought them in more than their trade can well employ , and their idle bags cumbring their counting houses , put them upon emptying them on a purchase . 2. another thing that makes a scarcity of buyers of land , are doubtful and ill titles , where these are frequent and fatal , one can no more expect , that men who have money , should be forward to purchase , than ships richly laden to venture themselves amongst roc●s and quicksands . 't is no wonder such seas should not be much frequented where the examples , and remains of daily wrecks , shew the ●olly and hazard of the venture , in the number of those who have miscarried . 3. a general decay of trade discourages men from purchasing● for this threatens an universal poverty , which is sure to fall first and heaviest upon land. the merchant who furnishes the improvident landholder , will not fail to have money for his wares with gain , whether the kingdom get by his trade or no , and he will keep his money rather employ'd in trade , which brings him in profit , ( for the merchant may get by a trade that makes the kingdom poor ) than lay it out in land , whose rents he sees sinking , and foresees by the course of trade , is likely to continue on to do so . when a nation is running to decay and ruine , the merchant and monied man , do what you can , will be sure to starve last : observe it where you will , the decays that come upon , and bring to ruine any country , do constantly first fall upon the land ; and though the country gentleman , ( who u●ually securely relies upon so much a year as was given in at his marriage settlement , and thinks his land an unmoveable fund for such an income ) be not very forward to think so ; yet this neverthe●ess is an undoubted truth , that he is more concern'd in trade and ou●ht to take a greater care that it be w●ll manag'd and preserved than even the merchant himself ; for he will certainly find● that when a decay of trade has carried away one part of our money out of the kingdom , and the other is kept in the merchant and tradesmans hands , that no laws he can make , nor any little arts of shifting property amongst our selves , will bring it back to him again : but his rents will fall , and his income every day lessen , till general industry , and frugality , join'd to a well order'd trade , shall restore to the kingdom the riches and wealth it had formerly . this by the way , if well consider'd , might let us see , that taxes , however contrived , and out of whose hand soever immediately taken , do in a country , where their great fund is in land , for the most part terminate upon land. whatsoever the people is chiefly maintain●d by , that the government supports it self on : nay , perhaps it will be found , that those taxes which seem least to affect land , will most surely of all other , ●a● the rents ; which is an evil the hardest to be recovered , for rents once f●●len are not e●sily raised again . a tax laid upon land seems hard to the landholder , because it is so much money going visibly out of his pocket ; and 〈…〉 ease to ●imself , the landholder i●●●●●ys fo●ward to lay it upon commodities : but 〈…〉 through●y consid●● it , and 〈◊〉 the effects , he will find he buys this seeming ease at a very dear rate , and though he pays not this tax immediately out of his own purse , yet there will be more wanting there at the end of the year than that comes to , with the lessening of his rents , which is a settled and lasting evil , that will stick upon him beyond the present payment . to make this clear , let us suppose in the present state of affairs in england , that the rents of england are twelve millions , and that the charge and necessities of the government requires a supply of three millions from the parliament , which is laid on land ; here is one fourth part of his yearly income goes immediately out of the landlords and landholders pocket : this is a burthen very apt to be felt , he readily perceives what goes thus out of his estate , who actually pays the money out of his pocket , or finds it deducted out of his rent at quarter-day for taxes ; but though this be a quarter of his yearly income , and out of an estate of four hundred pounds a year , the publick tax now openly takes away one hundred ; yet this influences not at all the yearly rent of the land , which the rack-renter or under tenant pays ; it being the same thing to him , whether he pays all his rent to the king or his landlord , or ½ or ¼ or none at all to the king ; the case is all one to him what hand receives his rent , when due ; so trade flourishes , and his commodities go off well , he will be able to pay his rent on . this lessens not any more the value of his farm , than an high or a low chief rent does , paid out of it to the lord of the fee ; and the tenant's bargain and profit is the same , whether the land be charg'd or not charg'd with an annuity payable to another man. we see this in college leases , where though the college tenant pays for it to the college some years five times as much as he does others , upon the varying rate of corn , yet the under tenant feels not this alteration in the least , nor finds a reason to have his rent abated , because a greater part of it is diverted from his landlord . all this is but changing the hand that receives the rent , without any influence at all upon the yearly value of the estate ; which will not be let for one penny more or less to the renter , however , or amongst whomsoever , the rent he pays , be divided . from hence it is evident , that taxes laid on land do not in the least make rents fall . but suppose , to shift off the burthen from the land , some country gentlemen should think fit to raise these three millions upon commodities , to let the land go free . first , it is to be considered , that since the publick wants require three millions , ( for that we suppos'd for argument sake ; let it be three millions , or one million , that 's all one ; ) and so much must go into the king's coffers ; or else the necessities of the government will not be supplied ; that for raising these three millions on commodities , and bringing so much into the exch●quer , there must go a great deal more than three millions out of the subj●cts pockets : for a tax of that nature cannot be levied by officers , to watch every little rivulet of trade , without a great cha●ge , especially at first trial . but supposing no more charge in raising it , than of a land tax , and that there are only ● millions to be paid , t is evident that to do this out of commodities , they must to the co●●umer b● raised ¼ in their price ; so that every t●●●g , to him that uses it , must be ¼ d●●●er . ●et us see now who at long run 〈◊〉 pay this ¼ and where it will light . 't is p●ain , the merchant and broker , neither will nor c●n ; for if he pays 1 / ● more for commodities than he did , he will sell them at a price proportionably raised . the poor labourer and handicraftsman cannot ; for he just lives from hand to mouth already , and all his food , cloathing and utensils , costing ¼ more than they did before ; either his wages must rise with the price of things , to make him live , or else , not being able to maintain himself and family by his labour , he comes to the parish ; and then the land bears the burthen a heavier way . if the labourer's wages be rais'd in proportion to the encreas'd rates of things , the farmer , who pays ¼ more for wages , as well as all other things , whil'st he sells his corn and wool , either at the same rate , or lower , at the market , ( since the tax laid upon it makes people less forward to buy ) must either have his rent abated , or else break and run away in his landlord's debt ; and so the yearly value of the land is brought down , and who then pays the tax at the years end , but the landlord ; when the tenant , not able to raise his rent by his commodities , either runs away in his landlords debt , or cannot be cotinued in the farm without abatement of rent ? for when the yearly charge in his farm is greater by the increase of the labourers wages , and yet his product sells ●ea●er by reason of the tax laid on his commodities ; how will the farmer be able to make up his rent at quarter day ? for this may be worth our notice , that any tax laid on foreign commodities in england , raises its price , and makes the importer get more for his commodity ; but on the contrary , a tax laid on your native product , and home made commodities , lessens their price , and makes them yield less to the first seller . the reason whereof is plain . for the merchant importing no commodity but what the necessity , or fashionable wantonness of your people gives him vent for , will not only proportion his gain , to the cost and risque he has been at before landing , but will expect profit of his money paid here , for any tax laid on it ; and take advantage from thence to raise his price above what his tax comes to ; and if he cannot do that , he will trade no more in that commodity . for it being not the product of his farm , he is not tied to bring it to market , if he finds its price not answer his expectation there , but turns himself to other wares , which he finds your markets take off better . a merchant will never continue to trade in wares , which the change of fashion , or humour amongst your people , have made less vendible , though he may be sometimes caught by a sudden alteration . but that seldom happens in the course of trade , so as to influence the great bulk of it : for things of necessity must still be had , and things of fashion will be had as long as men have money or credit , whatever rates they cost , and the rather because they are dear ; for it being vanity not use that makes the expensive fashions of your people , the emulation is , who shall have the finest , that is the dearest things , not the most convenient or useful . how many things do we value and buy , because they come at dear rates from iapan and china , which if they were our own manufacture or product , to be had common and for a little money , would be contemned and neglected ? have not several of our own commodities offered to sale at reasonable rates been despised , and the very same eagerly bought and brag'd of when sold for french at a double price ? you must not think therefore that the raising their price will lessen the vent of fashionable foreign commodities amongst you , as long as men have any way to purchase them , but rather increase it . french wine is become a modi●h drink amongst us , and a man is asham'd to entertain his friend , or almost to dine himself without it . the price is in the memory of man rais'd from 6 d. to 2 s. and does this hinder the drinking of it ? no , the quite contrary , a man's way of living is commended , because he will give any rate for it ; and a man will give any rate rather than pass for a poor wretch , or penurious curmudgeon that is not able or knows not how to live well nor use his friends civilly . fashion is for the most part nothing but the ostentation of riches , and therefore the high price of what serves to that , rather increases than lessens its vent : the contest and glory is in the expence , not the usefulness of it , and people are then thought and said to live well , when they can make a shew of rare and foreign things , and such as their neighbours cannot go to the price of . thus we see how foreign commodities fall not in their price by taxes laid on them , because the merchant is not necessitated to bring to your market any but fashionable commodities , and those go off the better for their high rate : but on the contrary your land 〈◊〉 being forced to bring his commodities to market , such as his land and industry affords them , common and known things , must sell them there at such price as he can get . this the buyer knows ; and these home-bred commodities being seldom the favourites of your people , or any farther acceptable than as great conveniency recommends them to the vulgar or downright necessity to all , as soon as a tax is laid on them , every one makes as sparing a use of them as he can , that he may save his money for other necessary or creditable expences , whereby the price they yield the first seller is mightily abated , and so the yearly value of the land which produces them lessen'd too . if therefore the laying of taxes upon commodities does , as it is evident , affect the land that is out at rack-rent , it is plain it does equally affect all the other land in england too , and the gent● will , but the worst way , increase their own charges ; that is by lessening thei● yearly value of their estates , if they hope to ease their land by charging commodities . it is in vain in a country whose great fund is land● to hope to lay the publick charge of the government on any thing else , there at last it will terminate . the merchant ( do what you can ) will not bear it : the labourer cannot , and therefore the landholder must ; and whether he were best do it , by laying it directly where it will at last settle , or by letting it come to him by the sinking of his rents , which when they are once fallen every one knows are not easily raised again , let him consider . holland is brought as an instance of laying the charge of the publique upon trade , and 't is possible ( excepting some few small free towns ) the only place in the world that could be brought to favour this way . but yet when examin'd will be found to shew the quite contrary , and be a clear proof , that lay the taxes how you will , land every where in proportion bears the greater share of the burthen . the publick charge of the government , is , 't is said in the united provinces , laid on trade , i grant it is , the greatest part of it ; but is the land excus'd or eas'd by it ? by no means , but on the contrary so loaded , that in many places ½ , in others ¼ , in others 1 / ● of the yearly value does not come in to the owners pocket : and if i have not been misinformed , the land in some places will not pay the taxes ; so that we may say , that the charge of the government came not upon commodities till the land could not bear it . the burthen unavoidably settles upon the land first , and when it has pressed it so that it can yield no more , trade must be brought in aid to help to support the government rather than let all sink : but the first stress is always upon land , and as far as that will reach it is unavoidably carried , lay your taxes how you will. 't is known what a share of the publick charges of the government is supported by the trade of amsterdam alone , as i remember the 36 / 100 ; but are the lands of guelderland eas'd by it ? let any one see in that country of land more than trade , what they make clear of their revenues , and whether the country genttlemen there grow rich on their land , whilst the merchant having the taxes laid on his commerce is impoverish'd ? on the contrary guelderland is so low and out of cash , that amsterdam has been fain for many years to lay down the taxes for them , which is , in effect , to pay the taxes of guelderland too . struggle and contrive as you will , lay your taxes as you please , the merchants and traders will shift it off from their own gain , bear the least part of it , and grow poor last . in holland it self , where trade is so loaded , who , i pray , grows richest the land-holder or the trader ? which of them is pinch'd , and wants money most ? a country may thrive , the country gentleman grow rich , and his rents increase ( for so it has been here ) whilst the land is taxed . but i challenge any one to shew me a country wherein there is any considerable publick charge raised , where the land does not most sensibly feel it , and in proportion bear much the greater part of it . we must not therefore impute the fal●ling of the rents , or price of land to high interest : nor if i●l husbandry has wasted our riches hope by such kind of laws to raise them to their former value , i humbly conceive we shall in vain endeavour it by the fall of interest . the number of buyers must be increased and sellers lessen'd , which must be done by other ways than regulating of interest , or else the landed man will neither find chapmen for his land , nor for the corn that grow on it at the rate he desires . but could an act of parliament , bring down interest to 4 per cent. and the lowering of that immediately raise the purchasers fine from 20 to 25 years purchase ; yet it may be doubted , whethe● this be sit to be made into a law , becaus● it would be of no advantage to the king●dom . for what profit would it b● to the nation to make a law , that 〈◊〉 who sells land should instead of 4 hav● 5 hundred pounds of the purcharser . thi● indeed a little alters the distribution of th● money we have amongst us englishma● here at home , but neither helps to continue what we have , nor brings in more from abroad ; which being the only concernment of the kingdom , in reference to its wealth , is apt to be supposed by us without doors to be the only care of a parliament : for it matters not so it be here amongst us , whether it be in thomas or richards hands , provided it be so ordered , that whoever has it may be encouraged to let it go into the current of trade , for the improvement of the general stock and wealth of the nation . as this increase of the fine in the purchase of land is not an advantage to the kingdom , so neither is it to the land-holder , who is the person that bearing the greatest part of the burthens of the kingdom , ought , i think , to have the greatest care taken of him , and enjoy as many privileges and as much wealth , as the ●avour of the law can ( with regard to the publick-weal ) confer upon him . but pray consider , to raise the years purchase in buying of land gives the advantage not to the landholder , but to him that ceases to be so . he that has no longer the land has the more money , and he who has the land is the poorer . the true advantage of the landholder is , that his ●orn , flesh , and wool , sell better , and yield a greater price ; this indeed is a profit that benefits the owner of the land and goes along with it ; it is this alone raises the rent and makes the possessor richer ; and this can only be done by increasing our wealth , and drawing more money into england , which the falling of interest , and thereby ( if it could effect it ) raising the purchase of land is so far from doing , that it does visibly and directly one way hinder our increase of wealth , that is , by hindering foreigners to come here and buy land , and settle amongst us . whereby we have this double loss ; first we lose their persons , increase of people being the increase both of strength and riches : secondly we lose so much money . for though whatever an englishman gives to another for land , though raised to 40 years purchase , be not one farthing advantage to the kingdom , yet whatever a foreigner , who purchases land here , gives for it , is so much every farthing clear gain to the nation , for the money comes clear in , without carrying out any thing for it● and is all one as if it drop'd down from the clouds . but farther , if consideration be to be had only of sellers of land , the lowering of interest to 4 per cent will not be in their favour , unless , by it , you can raise land to thirty years purchase , which is not at all likely ; and i think no body by falling of interest to four per cent , hopes to get chapmen for their land at that rate ; and whatsoever they have less , if law can regulate interest , they lose of their value of land , money being thus abased . so that the landedman will scarce find his account neither , by this law when it comes to trial . and at last i imagine this will be the result of all such attempts , that experience will shew , that the price of things will not be regulated by laws , though the endeavours after it will be sure to prejudice and inconvenience trade , and put your affairs out of order . if this be thus , that interest cannot be regulated by law , or that if it could , yet the reducing of it to four per cent. would do more harm than good ; what then should there ( will you say ) be no law at all to regulate interest ? i say not so , for , 1. it is necessary that there should be a stated rate of interest , that in debts and forbearances , where contract has not setled it between the parties , the law might give a rule , and courts of judicature might know what damages to allow : this may , and therefore should , be regulated . 2. that in the present current of running cash , which now takes its course almost all to london , and is ingrossed by a very few hands in comparison , young men , and those in want , might not too easily be exposed to extortion and oppression ; and the dextrous and combining money jobbers not have too great and unbounded a power , to prey upon their ignorance or necessity , there would not be much danger of this , if money were more equally distributed into the several quarters of england , and into a greater number of hands according to the exigences of trade . if money were to be hired , as land is , or to be had as corn , or wooll , from the owner himself , and known good security be given for it , it might then probably be had at the market ( which is the true ) rate , and would be a constant gauge of your trade and wealth ; but when a kind of monopoly , by consent , has put this general commodity into a few hands , it may need regulation , though what the stated rate of interest should be in the constant change of affairs , and ●lux of money , is hard to determine . possibly it may be allowed as a reasonable proposal that it should be within such bounds 〈…〉 quite l●t up the merchants and tradesmans profit , and discourage their industry ; nor on the other hand so low , as should hinder men from risquing their money in other mens hands , and so rather chuse to keep it out of trade , than venture it upon so small profit . when it is too high , it so hinders the merchants gain , that he will not borrow ; when too low , it so hinders the monied mans profit , that he will not lend ; and both these ways it is a hindrance to trade . but this being perhaps too general and loose a rule , let me add , that if one would consider money and land alone , in relation one to another , perhaps it is now at six per cent. in as good a proportion as is possible , six per cent. being a little higher than land at twenty years purchase , which is the rate pretty near that land has generally carried in england , it never being much over nor under . for supposing 100 l. in money , and land of 5 l. per annum , be of equal value , which is land at twenty years purchase : 't is necessary for the making their value truly equal , that they should produce an equal income , which the 100 l. at 5 l. per cent. interest is not likely to do . 1. because of the many , and sometimes long intervals of barrenness , which happen to money more than land. money at use , when return'd into the hands of the owner , usually lies dead there , till he gets a new tenant for it , and can put it out again ; and all this time it produces nothing . but this happens not to land , the growing product whereof turns to account to the owner , even when it is in his hands , or is allow'd for by the tenant , antecedently to his entring upon the farm. for though a man who borrows money at midsummer , never begins to pay his interest from our lady-day , or one moment backwards , yet he who rents a farm at midsummer , may have as much reason to begin his rent from our lady-day , as if he had then entred upon it . besides the dead intervals of ceasing profit , which happen to money more than land , there is another reason why the profit and income of money let out , should be a little higher than that of land ; and that is , because money out at interest ●●●s a greater risque than land does ; the ●o●●ower may break and run away with the money , and then not only the 〈◊〉 due , but all the future profit , with the principal , is lost forever ; but in land a man can lose but the rent due , for which usually too the stock upon the land is sufficient security ; and if a tenant run away in arrear of some rent , the land remains , that cannot be carried away or lost . should a man purchase good land in middlesex of 5 l. per annum , at twenty years purchase , and other land in rumney-marsh , or elsewhere of the same yearly value , but so situated , that it were in danger to be swallowed of the sea , and be utterly lost , it would not be unreasonable he should expect to have it under twenty years purchase ; suppose 16 ½ . this is to bring it to just the case of land at twenty years purchase , and money at six per cent. where the uncertainty of securing ones money may well be allowed that advantage of greater profit ; and therefore perhaps the legal interest now in england at six per cent , is as reasonable and convenient a rate as can well be set by a standing rule , especially if we consider that the law requires not a man to pay six per cent , but ties up the lender from taking more ; so that if ever it falls of it self , the monied man is sure to find it , and his interest will be brought down to it . high interest is thought by some a prejudice to trade ; but if we will look back , we shall find that england never throve so well , nor was there ever brought into england so great an increase of wealth since , as in queen elizabeth's and king iames i. and king charles i. time . when money was at 10 and 8 per cent. . i will not say high interest was the cause of it ; for i rather think that our thriving trade was the cause of high interest , every one craving money to employ in a profitable commerce . but this i think i may reasonably infer from it , that lowering of interest is not a sure way to improve either our trade or wealth . to this i hear some say , that the dutch , skilful in all arts of promoting trade , to out do us in this as well as all other advancements of it , have observed this rule , that when we fell interest in england from 10 to 8. they presently sunk interest in holland to 4 per cent. and again , when we lower'd it to 6 , they fell it to 3 per cent. thereby to keep the advantage which the lowness of interest gives to trade . from whence these men readily conclude , that the falling of interest will a●●ance trade in england . to which i answer , 1. that this looks like an argument , rather made for the present occasion , to mislead those who are cred●lous enough to swallow it , than arising from 〈◊〉 reason and matter of fact. for if lowering interest were so advantageous to trade , why did the dutch so constantly take their measures only by us , and not as well by some other of their neighbours , with whom they have as great or greater commerce than with us ? this is enough at first sight to make one suspect this to be dust only rais'd to throw in peoples eyes , and a suggestion made to serve a purpose . for , 2. it will not be found true , that when we abated interest here in england to 8. the dutch sunk it in holland to 4 per cent. by law ; or that there was any law made in holland to limit the rate of interest to 3 per cent. when we reduced it in england to 6. it is true , iohn de witt , when he managed the affairs of holland , setting himself to lessen the publick debt , and having actually paid some , and getting money in a readiness to pay others , sent notice to all the creditors , that those who would not take 4 per cent. should come and receive their money . the creditors finding him in earnest , and knowing not how otherwise to employ their money , accepted his terms , and changed their obligations into 4 per cent. whereas before they were at 5. and so ( the great loans of the country being to the state ) it might be said in this sense , that the rate of interest was reduced lower at that time ; but that it was done by a law , forbidding to take higher interest that 4 per cent. that i deny , and require any one to shew . indeed upon good security one might lately have borrowed money in holland at 3 , and 3 ½ per cent. but not by vertue of any law , but the natural rate of interest . and i appeal to the men learned in the law of holland , whether last year ( and i doubt not but it is so still ) a man might not lawfully lend his money for what interest he could get ; and whether in the courts he should not recover the interest he contracted for , if it were 10 per cent. so that if money be to be borrowed by honest and responsible men , at 3 , or 3 ½ per cent. it is not by the force of statutes and edicts , but the natural course of things , which will always bring interest upon good security low , where there is a great deal of money to be lent , and little good security in proportion to be had . holland is a country where the land makes a very little part of the stock of the country . trade is their great fund ; and their estates lie generally in money ; so that all who are not traders , generally speaking , are lenders : of which there are so many whose income depends upon interest , that if the states were not mightily in debt , but paid every one their principal , instead of the 4 per cent. use , which they give , there would be so much more money than could be used , or would be ventured in trade , that money there would be at 2 per cent. or under , unless they found a way to put it out in foreign countries . interest , i grant these men , is low in holland ; but not as an effect of law , nor the politick contrivance of the government , to promote trade ; but as the consequence of great plenty of ready money , when their interest first fell , i say when it first fell : for being once brought low , and the publick having borrowed a great part of private mens money , and continuing in debt , it must continue so , though the plenty of money , which first brought interest low , were very much decayed , and a great part of their wealth were really gone . for the debt of the state affording to the creditors a constant yearly income , that is looked on as a safe revenue , and accounted as valuable as if it were in land ; ( and accordingly they buy it one of another ; and whether there be any money in the publick coffers or no , he who has 10000 l. owing him from the states may sell it every day in the week , and have ready money for it ) this credit is so great an advantage to private men , who know not else what to do with their stocks , that were the states now in a condition to begin to pay their debts , the creditors , rather than take their money out to lie dead by them , would let it stay in at lower interest , as they did some years since , when they were call'd on to come and receive their money . this is the state of interest in holland ; their plenty of money , and paying their publique debts , some time since lowered their interest , but it was not by law , nor in consequence of our reducing it here by law to 6 per cent. for i deny that there is any law there yet , to forbid lending of money for above 3 , or 6 , or 10 per cent. what ever some here suggest , every one there may hire out his money as freely as he does any thing else , for what rate he can get ; and the bargain being made , the law will inforce the borrower to pay it . i grant low interest , where all men consent to it is an advantage to trade , if merchants will regulate their gains accordingly , and men be perswaded to lend to them ; but can it be expected , when the publique gives 7 , 8 , or 10 per cent. that private men , whose security is certainly no better , shall have it for 4 ? and can there be any thing stranger , than that the same men who look on , and therefore allow high use as an encouragement to lending to the chequer , should think low use should bring money into trade ? the states of holland some few years since , paid but 4 l. per cent. for the money they owed ; if you propose them for an example , and interest be to be regulated by a law , try whether you can do so here , and bring men to lend it to the publique at that rate , this would be a benefit to the kingdom , and abate a great part of our publique charge : if you cannot , confess , that 't is not the law in holland has brought the interest there so low , but something else , and that which will make the states , or any body else pay dearer now , if either their credit be less , or money there scarcer . an infallible sign of your decay of wealth , is the falling of rent● , and the raising of them would be worth the nations care ; for in that , and not in the falling of interest lies the true advantage of the landed man , and with him of the publick . it may be therefore not besides our present business , to enquire into the cause of the falling of rents in england . 1. either the land is grown barrenner , and so the product is less , and consequently the money to be receiv'd for that product is less ; for it is evident that he whose land was wont to produce 100 bushels of wheat communibus annis , if by long tillage and bad husbandry it will now produce but 50 bushels , the rent will be abated half . but this cannot be suppos'd general . 2. or the rent of that land is lessen'd . 1. because the use of the commodity ceases : as the rents must fall in virginia , were taking of tobacco forbid in england . 2. or because something else supplies the room of that product : as the rate of copis-lands will fall upon the discovery of coal mines . 3. or , because the markets are supplied with the same commodity , cheaper from another place . as the breeding countries of england must needs fall their rents , by the importation of irish cattle . 4. or , because a tax laid on your native commodities , makes what the farmer sells , cheaper , and labour , and what he buys dearer . 3. or , the money in the country is less . for the exigencies and uses of money not lessening with its quantity , and it being in the same proportion to be imploy'd and distributed still in all the parts of its circulation , so much as its quantity is lesse●'d , so much must the share of every one that has a right to this money be the less ; whether he be landholder , for his goods ; or labourer , for his hire ; or merchant , for his brokage . though the land-holder usually finds it first . because money failing , and falling short , people have not so much money as formerly to lay out , and so less money is brought to market , by which the price of things must necessarily fall . the labourer feels it next . for when the landholder's rent falls , he must either bate the labourer's wages , or not imploy , or not pay him ; which either way makes him feel the want of money . the merchant feels it last . for though he sell less , and at a lower rate , he buys also our native commodities , which he exports , at a lower rate too ; and will be sure to leave our native commodities unbought , upon the hands of the farmer , or manufacturer , rather than export them to a market , which will not afford him returns with profit . if one third of the money imploy'd 〈◊〉 trade were locked up , or gone out of england , must not the land-holders necessarily receive ⅓ less for their goods , and consequently their rents fall ; a less quantity of money by ⅓ being to be distributed amongst an equal number of receivers ? indeed , people not perceiving the money to be gone , are apt to be jealous one of another● and each suspecting anothers inequality of gain to rob him of his share , every one will be imploying his skill and power the best he can to retrieve it again , and to bring money into his pocket in the same plenty as formerly● but this is but scrambling amongst 〈◊〉 selves , and helps no more against 〈◊〉 want , than the pulling off a short cover let will , amongst children that lye toge●ther , preserve them all from the col●● some will starve , unless the father of th●●amily provide better , and enlarge 〈◊〉 scanty garments . this pulling and con●●● is usually between the landed man ar● the merchant . for the labourer's share , b●●ing seldom more than a bare subsistenc● never allows that body of men time 〈◊〉 opportunity to raise their thoughts abo●● that , or 〈◊〉 with the richer 〈◊〉 theirs● ( as one common interest , ) unle●● when some common and great distre●● uniting them in one universal ferme● makes them forget respect , and emb●●dens them to carve to their wants 〈◊〉 armed force : and then sometimes the break in upon the rich , and sweep ● like a deluge . but this rarely happens 〈◊〉 in the mal-administration of neglected mis-manag'd government . the usual struggle and contest , as i said before , in the decays of wealth and riches , is between the landed man and the merchant , with whom i may here joyn the money'd man. the landed man finds himself aggrieved , by the falling of his rents , and the streightning of his fortune ; and thinking the merchant ( whom he sees flourish and thrive ) eats up his profit , and builds up a fortune upon his ruines ; he therefore endeavours , by laws , to keep up the value of lands , which he suspects lessened by the others excess of profit : but all in vain . the cause is mistaken , and the remedy too . 't is not the merchants nor mon●y'd man's gains that makes land fall ; but the loss of the kingdom , in our decay of trade , which the land always first feels . if the landed gentleman will have , and by his example , make it fashionable to have more claret , spi●● , silk , and other foreign consumable wares , than our . exportation of commodities does exchange for ; money must unavoidably follow to ballance the account , and pay the debt . and therefore i fear that another proposal , i hear talked of , to hinder the exportation of m●ney and bullion , will shew more our need of care to keep our money from going from us , than a way and method how to preserve it here . 't is death in spain to export money : and yet they , who furnish all the world with gold and silver , have least of it amongst themselves . trade fetches it away from that lazy and indigent people , notwithstanding all their artificial and forced contrivances to keep it there . it follows trade against the rigour of their laws ; and their want of foreign commodities makes it openly be carried out at noon-day . nature has bestow'd mines on several parts of the world : but their riches are only for the industrious and frugal . whomever else they visit , 't is with the diligent and sober only they stay . and if the vertue , and provident way of living of our ancestors ( content with our native conveniences of life , without the costly itch after the materials of pride and luxury from abroad ) were brought in fashion and countenance again amongst us ; this alone would do more to keep increase our wealth , and inrich our land , than all our paper helps about interest , money , bulli●n , &c. which , however eagerly we may catch at , will not , i fear , without better husbandry , keep us from sinking , whatever contrivances we may have recourse to . 't is with a kingdom , as with a family . spending less than our own commodities will pay for , is the sure and only way for the nation to grow rich. and when that begins once seriously to be consider'd , and our faces and steps are in earnest turn'd that way , we may hope to have our rents rise , and the publick stock thrive again . till then , we in vain , i fear , endeavour with noise , and weapons of law , to drive the wolf from our own to one anothers doors . the breed ought to be extirpated out of the island . for want , brought in by ill management , and nursed up by expensive vanity , will make the nation poor , and spare no body . if three millions were necessary for the carrying on the trade of england , whereof one million were for the land-holder , to maintain him ; another were for the payment of the labourer and handicraftsman ; and the third were the share of the brokers , coming to them for their care and pains in distributing ; if one million of this money were gone out of the kingdom , must not there be ⅓ part less to be shared amongst them for the product of their land , their labour and their distribution ? i do not say they will feel it at the same time . but the landholder having nothing but what the product of his land will yield ; and the buyer , according to the plenty or scarcity of money he has , always setting the price upon what is offered to sale ; the land-holder must be content to take the market-rate for what he brings thither , which always following the scarcity or plenty of money , if any part of our money be gone , he is sure first to find it in the price of his commodities . for the broker and merchant , though he sell cheaper , yet he buys cheaper too ; and he will be sure to get by his returns , or let alone a commodity which will not produce him gains ; and whatsoever is so let alone , and left upon hands , always turns to the land-holders loss . supposing that of our woollen manufacture , foreign markets took off one half , and the other half were consumed amongst our selves ; if a sensible part , ( as ⅓ of our money ) were gone , and so men had equally ⅓ less than they had ( for , 't is certain , it must be tantamount ; and what i 'scape of ⅓ less , another must make up ) it would follow , that they would have less to lay out in cloaths , as well as other things , and so would either wear them longer , or pay less for them . if a clothier finds a want of vent , he must either sell cheaper or not at all : if he sells cheaper , he must also pay less , both for wool and labour : and if the labourer hath less wages , he must also pay less for corn , butter , cheese , flesh , or else forbear some of these quite . in all which cases , the price of wool , corn , flesh , and the other products of land are brought down , and the land bears the greatest part of the loss . for where-ever the consumption or vent of any commodity is stopt , there the stop continues on till it comes to the land-holder . and where-ever the price of any commodity begins to fall , how many hands soever there be between that and the land-holder , they all take reprisals one upon another , till at last it comes to the land-holder ; and there the abatement of price , of any of his commodities , lessens his income , and is a clear loss . the owner of land , which produces the commodity , and the last buyer , who consumes it , are the two extreams in commerce . and though the falling of any sort of commodity in the land-holder's hand , does not prove so to the last consumer , the arts of intervening brokers and ingrossers keeping up the price to their own advantage ; yet whenever want of money , or want of desire in the consumer , make the price low , that immediately reaches the first producer ; no body between having any interest to keep it up . now , as to the two first causes of falling of rents , falling of interest has no influence at all . in the latter , ●it has a great part : because it makes the money of england less , by making both english-men and foreigners withdraw or withhold their money . for that which is not let loose into trade , is all one whil'st hoarded up , as if it were not in being . i have heard it brought for a reason , why interest should be reduced to four per cent ; that thereby the landholder , who bears the burthen of the publick charge , may ●e , in some degr●e , eased by falling of interest . this argument will be put right , if you 〈◊〉 it will case the forrower , and say the less on the lender ; but it concern not the land in general , unless you will suppose all land-holders in debt . 〈…〉 we may yet think that men in ●●gland , who have land , have money too ; and that landed men , as well a● others , by their providence and good husbandry , accommodating their expences to their income , keep themselves from going backwards in the world. that which is urged , as most deserving consideration and remedy in the case , is , that it is hard and unreasonable , that one , who has mortgaged half his land , should yet pay taxes for the whole , whil'st the mortgage goes away with the clear profit of an high interest . to this i answer , 1. that if any man has run himself in debt , for the service of his country , 't is fit the publick should reimburse him , and set him free . this is a care that becomes the publick justice ; that men , if they receive no rewards , should , at least , be kept from suffering , in having served their country . but i do not remember the polity of any nation , who altered their constitution , in favour of those whose mismanagement had brought them behind-hand ; possibly , as thinking the publick little beholding to those who had misimploy'd the stock of their country , in the excess of their private expences , and , by their example , spread a fashion that carries ruine with it : mens paying taxes of mortgaged lands , is a punishment for ill-husbandry , which ought to be discouraged ; but it concerns very little the frugal and the thrifty . 2. another thing to be said in reply to this , is , that it is with gentlemen in the country , as with tradesmen in the city . if they will own titles to greater estates than really they have , it is their own faults , and there is no way left to help them from paying for them . the remedy is in their own hands , to discharge themselves when they please . and when they have once sold their land , and paid their debts , they will no longer pay taxes for what they own , without being really theirs . there is another way also , whereby they may be relieved , as well as a great many other inconveniencies remedied ; and that is by a registry : for if mortgages were registred , i and taxes might reach them , and order the lender to pay his proportion . i have met with patrons of four per cent , who ( amongst many other fine things they tell us of ) affirm , that if interest were reduc'd to four per cent , then s●me men would , borrowing money at this low rate , pay their debts ; others would borrow more than they now do , and improve their land ; others would borrow more , and imploy it in trade and manufacture . gilded words indeed , were there any thing substantial in them ! these men talk as if they meant to shew us , not only the wisdom but riches of solomon , and make gold and silver as common as the stones in the street ; but at last , i fear , 't will be but wit without money ; and , i wish it amount to that . 't is without question , that could the country-man and the trades-man take up money cheaper than now they do , every man would be forward to borrow , and desire that he might have other mens money to imploy to his advantage ; and therefore , i confess , those who contend for four per cent , have found out a way to set mens months a watering for money at that rate , and to increase the number of the borrowers in england ; if any body can imagine it would be an advantage to increase them . but to answer all their fine projects , i have but this one short question to ask them : will four per cent increase the number of the lenders ? if it will not , as any man at the very first hearing , will shrewdly suspect it will not , then all the plenty of money these conjurers bestow upon us for improvement of land , paying of debts , and advancement of trade , is but like the gold and silver which old women believe others conjurers , bestow sometimes by whole lapfuls , on poor credulous girls , which , when they bring to the light , is found to be nothing but wither'd leaves , and the possessors of it are still as much in want of money as ever . indeed i grant it would be well for england , and i wish it were so , that the plenty of money were so great amongst us , that every man could borrow as much as he could use in trade , for four per cent ; nay , that men could borrow as much as they could imploy for six per cent. but even at that rate , the borrowers already are far more than the lenders . why else doth the merchant upon occasion , pay six per cent , and often above that rate for brokage ? and why doth the country gentleman of 1000 l. per annum find it so difficult , with all the security he can bring to take up 1000 l ? all which proceeds from the scarcity of money , and bad security ; two causes which will not be less powerful to hinder borrowing , after the lowering of 〈◊〉 ; and i do not see how any one can imagine how reducing use to four per cent , should abate their force ; or how lessening the reward of the lender , without diminishing his risque , should make him more forward and ready to lend . so that these m●n , whilst they talk , that at four 〈…〉 m●n would take up , and ●mploy more money to the publick advantage , do but 〈◊〉 to multip●y the number of borrowers among us , of which it is certain we have too many already . whilst they thus set men a longing for the golden days of four per cent , methinks they use the poor indigent debtor , and needy tradesman , as i have seen pratling jack-daws do sometimes their young , who kawing and fluttering about the nest , set all their young ones a gaping , but having nothing in their empty mouths but noise and air , leave them as hungry as before . 't is true these men have found out by a cunning project , how by the restraint of law to make the price of money ⅓ cheaper , and then they tell iohn a nokes , that he shall have 10000 l. of it to employ in merchandise , or cloathing ; and iohn a stiles shall have 20000 l. more to pay his debts ; and so distribute this money as freely as dego did his legacies , which they are to have even where they can get it . but till these men can instruct the forward borrowers where they shall be furnished , they have perhaps done something to increase mens desire , but not made money one jot easier to come by . and till they do that , all this sweet gingling of money in their discourses , goes just to the tune of , if all the world were oatmeal . methinks these undertakers , whilst they hav● put men in hopes of borrowing more plentifully at easier rates , for the supply of their wants and trades , had done better to have bethought themselves of a way , how men need not borrow upon use at all ; for this would be much more advantageous , and altogether as feisible . for i am sure , 't is as easie to contrive in a country that wants money in proportion to its trade , how every man shall be supplied with as much money as he needs , ( i. e. can employ in improvement of land , paying his debts , and return of trade ) for nothing , as for four per cent ; as it is as easie to distribute twenty pair of shooes amongst thirty men , if they pay nothing for them at all , as if they paid 4 s. a pair . ten of them ( notwithstanding the statute rate should be reduced from 6 s. to 4 s. a pair ) will be necessitated to sit still barefoot , as much as if they were to pay nothing for shooes at all . either we have already more money than the owners will lend , or we have not . if part of the money , which is now in england , will not be lent at the rate interest is at present at , will men be more ready to lend , and borrowers be furnished for all those brave purposes more plentifully , when money is brought to four per cent ? if people do already lend all the money they have , above their own occasions , whence are those who will borrow more at 4 per cent , to be supplied ? or is there such plenty of money , and scarcity of borrowers , that there needs the reducing of interest to 4 per cent , to bring men to take it ? all the imaginable ways of increasing money in any country , are these two : either to dig it in mines of our own , or get it from our neighbors . that 4 per cent , is not of the nature of the de●sing-rod , or virgila divina , able to discover mines of gold and silver , i believe will easily be granted me . the way of getting from foreigners , is either by force , borrowing , or trade . and whatever otherways besides these men may fansie or propose , for increasing of money , ( except they intend to set up for the philosophers stone ) would be much the same with a destracted man's device , that i knew , who , in the beginning of his distemper first discover'd himself to be out of his wits , by getting together , and boiling a great number of groats , with a design , as he said , to make them plim , and grow thicker . that 4 per cent , will raise armies , discipline soldiers , and make men valiant , and fitter to conquer countries , and enrich themselves with the spoils , i think was never pretended . and that it will not bring in more of our neighbours money upon loan , than we have at present among us , is so visible in it self , that it will not need any proof ; the contenders for 4 per cent looking upon it as an undeniable truth , and making use of it as an argument to shew the advantage it will be to the nation , by lessening the use paid to foreigners , who upon falling of use will take home their money . and for the last way of increasing our money , by promoting of trade , how much lowering of interest is the way to that , i have , i suppose , shew'd you already . having lately met with a little tract intituled a letter to a friend concerning usury , printed in the year 1690 ; which gives in short , the arguments of some treatises printed many years since , for the lowering of interest ; it may not be amiss , briefly to consider them . 1. a high interest decays trade . the advantage from interest is greater than the profit from trade , which makes the rich merchants give over , and put out their stock to interest , and the lesser merchants break. answ. this was printed in 1621 , when interest was at 10 per cent. and whether england had ever a more flourishing trade than at that time , must be left to the judgment of those who have consider'd the growing strength and riches of this kingdom in q. e. and king i. the 1st reigns : not that i impute it to high interest , but to other causes i have mention●d , wherein usury had nothing to do . but if this be thought an argument , now in 1690 , when the legal interest is 6 per cent ; i desire those who think fit to make use of it , to name those rich merchants who have given over and put out their stocks to interest . 2. interest being at 10 per cent , and in holland at 6 ; our neighbor merchants undersell us . answ. the legal interest being here now at 6 per cent , and in holland not limited by law ; our neighbor merchants under-sell us , because they live more frugally , and are content with less profit . 3. interest being lower in holland than in england , their contributions to war , works of piety , and all charges of the state , are cheaper to them than to us . answ. this needs a little explication . contributions greater or less , i understand : but contributions cheaper or dear●r , i confess i do not . if they manage their wars and charges cheaper than we , the blame is not to be laid on high or low interest . 4. interest being so high , prevents the building of shipping , which is the strength and safety of our island , m●st merchant ships being built in holland . answ. though this argument be now gone , such ships being prohibited by a law , i will help the author to one as good . the du●ch buy our rape-seed , make it into oil , bring it back to us , and sell it with advantage . this may be as well said to be from high interest here , and low there . but the truth is , the industry and frugality of that people , makes them content to work cheaper , and sell at less profit than their neighbours , and so get the trade from them . 5. the high r●te of usury makes land sell so cheap , being n●t worth more than 14 or 15 years purcha●● ; whereas in holland , where interest is at 6 , it is worth above 25. so that a low interest raises the price of land. where money is dear land is cheap . ans. this argument plainly confesses , that there is something else regulates the price of land , besides the rate of interest ; else when money was at 10 per cent here , land should have been at 10 years purchase ; whereas he confesses it then to have been at 14 or 15. one may suppose , to favour his hypothesis , he was not forward to speak the most of it . and interest , as he says , being at 6 per cent in holland . land there should have sold by that rule for 16 ● / ● years purchase , whereas he says it was worth about 25. and mr. manly says , ( p. 33. ) that 〈◊〉 in france being at 7 per cent , noble 〈…〉 4 and 35 years purchase , and 〈◊〉 land for 25. so that the true 〈…〉 from hence is not what our 〈…〉 that 't is not the legal 〈…〉 something else , that governs the 〈◊〉 of land. i grant his position , that 〈…〉 . but it must be so by the natural , not legal interest . for where money will be lent on good security at 4 or 5 per cent , 't is a demonstration that there is more than will be ventured on ordinary credit in trade . and when this plenty becomes general , 't is a sign there is more money than can be employed in trade ; which cannot but put many upon seeking purchases , to lay it out in land , and so raise the price of land , by making more buyers than sellers . 6. 't is not probable lenders will call in their money , when they cannot make greater interest any where . besides , their security upon l●nd will be better . answ. some unskilful and timorous men will call in their money ; others put it into the banker's hands . but the bankers and skilful will keep it up , and not lend it , but at the natural vse , as we have shewn . but how securities will be●ne e●d●d by lowering of interest , is i confess beyond my comprehension . of raising our coin. being now upon the consideration of interest and money , give me leave to say one word more on this occasion , which may not be wholly unseasonable at this time . i hear a talk up and down of raising our money , as a means to retain our wealth , and keep our money from being carried away . i wish those that use the phrase of raising our money , had some clear notion annex'd to it ; and that then they would examine , whether , that being true , it would at all serve to those ends , for which it is propos'd . the raising of m●n●y then signifies one of these two things ; either raising the value of our money , or raising the denomination of our coin. the raising of the value of money , or any thing else , is nothing but the making a less quantity of it exchange for any oth●r thing , than would have been taken for it before . v. g. if 5 s. will exchange for , or ( as we call it ) buy a bushel of wheat ; if you can make 4 s. buy another bushel of the same wheat , it is plain the value of your money is raised , in respect of wheat , ⅕ . but thus nothing can raise or fall the value of your money , but the proportion of its plenty or scarcity , in proportion to the plenty , scarcity , or vent of any other commodity , with which you compare it , or for which you would exchange it . and thus silver , which makes the in●●ntick value of money , compar'd with it self , under any stamp or denomination of the same or different countries , cannot be raised . for an ounce of silver , whether in p●ne● , g●o●●● ● or cr●wn pieces , stivers or du●●t●●ns , or in bullion , is and always eternally will be of equal value to any other ounce of si●ver , under what stamp or denomination soever ; unless it can be shewn that any stamp can add any new and better 〈…〉 parc●l of silver , which 〈…〉 of silver 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 therefore 〈…〉 of equal value to silver , 〈…〉 coin , com 〈◊〉 with 〈…〉 less , or equal , 〈…〉 or equal silve● 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 can by no 〈…〉 your money . 〈…〉 of the world , 〈…〉 being a●oy●d , 〈…〉 so much silver alloy'd , or mixed with baser metals : because , besides the weight of the silver , those who have need of fine ( i. e. unmixed silver ; as gilders , wyre-drawers , &c. ) must according to their need , besides an equal weight of silver mixed with other metals , give an overplus to reward the refiner's skill and pains . and in this case , fine silver and alloy'd or mixed silver are considered as two distinct commodities . but no money being coin'd of pure fine silver , this concerns not the value of money at all ; wherein an equal quantity of silver is always the same value with an equal quantity of silver , let the stamp or denomination be what it will. all then that can be done in this great mystery of raising money , is only to alter 〈…〉 , and call that a crown now , which before by the law was but a part of a crown . for example : supposing , according to the standard of our law , 5 ● . or a crown , were to weigh an ounce , ( as it does now , wanting 18 grains ) whereof , ● ½ were copper , and 11 / 12 silver , ( for there abouts it is ) 't is plain here 't is the quantity of silver gives the value to it . for let another piece be coined of the same weight , wherein half the silver is taken out , and copper or other alloy put into the place , every one knows it will be worth but half as much . for the value of the alloy is so inconsiderable as not to be reckon'd . this crown now must be raised● and from henceforth our crown pieces coined 1 / 20 lighter than an ounce ; which is nothing but changing the denomination , calling that a crown now , which yesterday was but a part , viz. 19 / 20 of a crown ; whereby you have only raised 19 parts to the denomination formerly given to 20. for i think no body can be so senseless , as to imagine that 19 grains or ounces of silver can be raised to the value of 20 ; or that 19 gr. or ounces of silver shall at the same time exchange for or buy as much corn , oyl , or wine , as 20 ; which is to raise it to the value of 20. for if 19 ounces of silver can be worth 20 ounces of silver , or pay for as much of any other commodity , then 18 , 1● , or ● ounce may do the same . for if the abating 1 / 20 of the quantity of silver of any coin , does not lessen its value , the abating 1● / 20 of the quantity of the silver of any coin , will not abate its value . and so a single three-pence , or a single penny , being call'd a crown , will buy as much spice , or silk , or any other commodity , as a crown-piece , which contains 20 or 60 times as much silver ; which is an absurdity so great , that i think no body will want eyes to see , and sense to disown . now , this raising your money , or giving a less quantity of silver the stamp and denomination of a greater , may be done two ways . 1. by raising one species of your money . 2. by raising all your silver coin at once , proportionably ; which is the thing i suppos'd , now propos'd . 1. the raising of one species of your coin , beyond its intrinsick value , is done by coining any one species , ( which in account bears such a proportion to the other species of your coin ) with less silver in it than is required by that value it bears in your money . for example , a crown with us goes for 60 pence , a shilling for 12 pence , a t●ster for 6 pence , and a groat for 4 pence : and accordingly , the proportion of silver in each of them , ought to be as 60. 12. 6. and 4. now , if in the mint there should be coin'd groats , or testers , that being of the same alloy with our other money , had but 2 / ● of the weight that those species are coin'd at now ; or else , being of the same weight , were alloy'd with ⅓ of copper 〈…〉 〈…〉 ; and should thus , by law , be made current ; ( the rest of your silver money being kept to the present standard in weight and fineness ) 't is plain those species would be raised ⅓ part ; that passing for 6 d which had but the silver of 4 d in it ; and would be all one as if a groat should by law be made current for 6 d ; and every 6 d in payment pass for 9 d. this is truly raising the species : but is no more in effect , than if the mine should coin clip'd money . and has , besides the cheat that is put , by such base or light money , on every particular man that receives it , that he wants ⅓ of that real value which the publick ought to secure him , in the money it obliges him to receive as lawful and current ; it has● i say , this great and unavoidable inconvenience to the publick , that , besides the opportunities it gives to domestick coin●●● to cheat you with lawful money , it p●●● it into the hands of foreigners to 〈◊〉 away your money without any commodities for it● for if they find that two-penny we●ght of silver , marked with a certain impression , shall ●●re in e●gland be equivalent to 3 d weight marked with anoth●r impression ; they will not fail to 〈◊〉 pieces of that fashion ; and so importing that base and low coin , will , here in england , receive 3 d for 2 d , and quickly carry away your silver in exchange for copper , or barely the charge of coynage . this is unavoidable in all countries where any one species of their money is disproportionate in its intrinsick value , ( i. e. in its due proportion of silver to the rest of the money of that country ) which the king of france could not avoid , with all his watchfulness . for though , by edict , he made his 4 s●ls pieces , whereof 15 were to pass for ● french crown , though 20 of them had not so much silver in them , as was in a french crown piece ) pass in the inland parts of his kingdom , 15 for a crown , in all payments ; yet he durst not make them current in his sea-port towns , for fear that should give an opportunity to their importation . but yet this caution served not the turn . they were still imported ; and , by this means , a great loss and damage brought upon his country . so that he was forced to cry them down , and sink them to near their intrinsick value ; whereby a great many particular men , who had quantities of that species in their hands , lost a great part of their estates ; and every one that had any , lost proportionably by it . if we had groats or six-pences current by law , amongst us , that wanted ⅓ of the silver they now have by the standard , to make them of equal value to our other species of money ; who can imagine that our neighbours would not presently pour in quantity of such money upon us , to the great loss and prejudice of the kingdom ? the quantity of silver that is in each piece or species of coin , being that which makes its real and intrinsick value , the due proportions of silver ought to be kept in each species , according to the respective rate set on each of them by law. and when this is ever varied from , it is but a trick to serve some present occasion ; but is alway● with loss to the country where the trick is play'd . 2. the other way of raising m●ny is by raising all your silver coin at once ; the proportion of a crown , a shilling , and a penny , in reference to one another , being still kept , ( viz. that a shilling shall weigh 1 / ● of a crown piece , and a penny weigh 1 / 12 of a shilling , in standard silver ) but out of every one of these , you abate 1 / 20 of the silver they were wont to have in them . if all the species of money , be , as 't is call'd , rais'd by making each of them to have 1 / 2● less of silver in them than formerly ; and so your whole money be lighter than it was : these following will be some of the consequences of it . 1. it will rob all creditors and landlords of 1 / 20 ( or 5 per cent ) of their debts , in their 〈◊〉 rents , for ever ; and all other rents , as far as their former contracts reach , of 5 per cent of their yearly income ; and this without any advantage to the debtor or farmer : for he receiving no more pounds sterling for his land or commodities , in this new lighter coin , than he should have done of your old and weightier money , gets nothing by it . if you say yes , he will receive more crown , half-crown , and shilling pieces , for what he now sells for new money , than he should have done if the money of the old standard had continued ; you confess your money is not raised in value , but in denomination ; since what your new pieces want in weight , must now be made up in their number . but which way ever this falls , 't is certain , the publick ( which most men think , ought to be the only reason of changing a settled law , and disturbing the common current course of things ) receives not the least profit by it ; nay , as we shall see by and by , it will be a great charge and loss to the kingdom . but this , at first sight , is visible ; that in all payments to be received upon precedent contracts , if your money be in effect raised , the receiver will lose 5 per cent. for money having been lent , and leases and other bargains made , when money was of the same weight and fineness that it is now , upon confidence that under the same names of pounds , sh●l . and pence , they should receive the same value , ( i. e. the same quantity of silver ) by giving the denomination now to less quantities of silver by 1 / 20 , you take from them 5 per cent of their due . when men go to market to buy any other commodities with their new , but lighter money , they will find 20 s. of their new money will buy no more of any commodity than 19 would before . for it not being the denomination but the quantity of silver , that gives the value to any coin , 19 grains or parts of silver , however denominated or marked● will no more be worth , or pass for , or buy so much of any other commodity as 20 grains of silver will , than 19 s. will pass for 20 s. if any one thinks a shilling or a crown in name has its value from the denomination , and not from the quantity of silver in it , let it be tried ; and hereafter let a penny be called a shilling or a shilling be called a crown . i believe no body would be content to receive his debts or rents in such money ; which though the law should raise thus , yet he foresees he should lose 11 / 12 by the one , and by the other ⅘ of the value he received ; and would find his new shilling , which had no more silver in it than 1 / 12 of what a shilling had before , would buy him of corn , cloth , or wine but 1 / 12 of what an old shilling would . this is as plainly so in the raising , as you call it , your crowns to 5 s. and 3 d. or ( which is the same thing ) making your crown 1 / 2● lighter in silver ; the only difference being that in one the loss is so great , ( it being 11 / 12 ) every body sees and abhors it at first proposal ; but in the other ( it being but 1 / 20 , and covered with the deceitful name of raising our money ) people do not so readily observed it . if it be good to raise the crown-piece this way 1 / 20 this week , i suppose it will be as good and profitable to raise it as much again the next week . for there is no reason why it will not be as good to raise it again another 1 / 20 the next week , and so on ; wherein , if you proceed but 10 weeks successively , you will by new-years-day next have every half-crown raised to a crown , to the loss of ½ of peoples debts and rents , and the king's revenue , besides the confusion of all your affairs : and if you please to go on in this beneficial way of raising your money , you may by the same art bring a penny-weight of silver to be a crown . silver , i. e. the quantity of pure silver separable from the alloy , makes the real value of money . if it does not , coin copper with the same stamp and denomination , and see whether it will be of the same value . i suspect your stamp will make it of no more worth than the copper-money of ireland is , which is its weight in copper and no more . that money lost so much to ireland as it passed for above the rate of copper . but yet i think no body suffered so much by it as he by whose authority it was made current . if silver give the value , you will say what need is there then of the charge of coinage . may not men exchange silver by weight , for other things ; make their bargains , and keep their accounts in silver by weight ? this might be done , but it has these inconveniencies . 1. the weighing of silver to every one we had occasion to pay it to , would be very troublesome , for every one must carry about scales in his pocket . 2. scales would not do the business . for , in the next place , every one cannot distinguish between fine and mix'd silver : so that though he received the full weight , he was not sure he received the full weight of silver ; since there might be a mixture of some of the baser metalls , which he was not able to discern . those who have had the care and government of politick societies , introduced coinage as a remedy to those two inconveniencies . the stamp was a warranty of the publick , that under ●●ch a denomination they should receive a piece of such a weight and such a ●iness ; 〈◊〉 is , they should receive so much silver . and this is the reason why the counter●iting the stamp is made the highest crime , and has the weight of treason ●aid upon it ; because the stamp 〈…〉 of the intrins●ck value . the royal authority gives the 〈…〉 the law ●●lows and confirms the denomination , and both together give as it were the pub●●●k faith , as a secu●ity that 〈◊〉 of money 〈◊〉 for 〈…〉 , be of such a 〈…〉 have 〈◊〉 them so much silver . for 〈◊〉 si●ver ●nd not names that pay deb●● and pur●●ase commodities . if therefore i have contracted for twenty crowns , and the law then has required that each of those crowns should have an ounce of silver ; 't is certain my bargain is not made good , i am defrauded ( and whether the publick faith be not broken with me , i leave to be considered ) if , paying me 20 crowns , the law allows them to be such as have but 19 / 2● of the silver they ought to have , and really had in them , when i made my contract . 2. it diminishes all the kings revenue 5 per cent. for though the same number of pounds , shillings , and pence are paid into the exchequer as were wont , yet these names being given to coin that have each of them 1 / 20 less of silver in them ; and that being not a secret conceal'd from strangers , no more than from his own subjects , they will sell the king no more pitch , ●arr , or hemp , for 20 shillings , after the raising your money , than they would before for 19 : or to speak in the ordinary phrase , they will raise their commodities 5 per cent , as you have rais'd your money 5 per cent : and 't is well if they stop there . for usually in such changes , an out-cry being made of your lessening your coin , those who you have to deal with you , taking the advantage of the allarm to secure themselves from any loss by your new trick , raise their price even beyond the par of your lessening your coin. i hear of two inconveniencies complain'd of , which 't is proposed by this project to remedy . the one is , the melting down of our coin ; the other , the carrying away of our bullion . these are both inconveniencies i fear we lie under , but neither of them will be in the least removed or prevented by the proposed alteration of our money . 1. it is past doubt , that our money is melted down ; the reason whereof is evidently the cheapness of coinage for a tax on coin , paying the coinage , the particular owners pay nothing for it . so that 100 ounces of silver coined , comes to the owner at the same rate , as 100 ounces of the standard silver in bullion . for delivering into the mint his silver in bars , he has the same quantity of silver deliver'd out to him again in coin , without any charges to him . whereby if at any time he has occasion for bullion , 't is the same thing to melt down our mi●'d money as to buy bullion from abroad , or take it in exchange for other commodities . thus our mint to the only advantage of our officers , but at the publick cost , la●●urs in vain , as will be found . but yet this makes you not have one jot less money in england , than you would have otherwise ; but only makes you coin that which otherwise would not have been coin'd , nor perhaps been brought hither ; and being not brought hither by an over-ballance of your exportation , cannot stay when it is here . it is not any sort of coinage , does or can keep your money here . that wholly and only depends upon the ballance of your trade . and had all the money in king charles the ii. and king iames the ii. time , been minted according to this new proposal , this raised money would have been gone as well as the other , and the remainder been no more , nor no less than it is now ; though i doubt not but the mint would have coined as much of it as it has of our present mil●'d money . the short is this ; an over-ballance of trade with spain brings you in bullion ; cheap coinage , when it is here , carries it into the mint , and money is made of it ; but if your exportation will not ballance your importation in the other parts of your trade , away must your silver go again , whether monied or not monied . for where goods do not , silver must pay for the commodities you spend . that this is so will appear by the books of the mint , where may be seen how much mill'd money has been coin'd in the two last reigns . and in a paper i have now in my hands , ( supposed written by a man not wholly ignorant in the mint ) 't is confessed , that whereas 1 / ● of the current payments were some time since of mil●'d money , there is not now 1 / ●● gone then it is . but let not any one mistake and think it gone , because in our present coinage , an ounce wanting ●8 grains is denominated a crown● or that ( as is now proposed ) an 〈…〉 about 40 grains , being 〈…〉 denominated a 〈…〉 it , or will ( if our money be 〈…〉 for the future fix it here . coin what quantity of silver you please , in one peice bigger or less , and give it the denomination of a crown ; when your money is to go to pay your foreign debts , ( or else it will not go out at all ) your heavy money , ( i. e. that which is weight according to its denomination , by the standard of the mint ) will be that which will be melted down , or carried away in coin by the exporter , whether the pieces of each species be by the law greater or less . for whilst coinage is whol●y paid for by a tax , whatever your size of money be , he that has need of bullion to send beyond sea , or of silver to make plate , need but take mill'd money , and melt it down and he has it as cheap as if it were in pieces of eight , or other silver coming from abroad ; the stamp , which so well secures the weight and fineness of the mill'd money , costing nothing at all . to this perhaps will be said , that if this be the effect of milled money , that it is so apt to be melted down , it were better to return to the old way of coining by the hammer ; to which i answer by no means . for , 1. that way of coinage less secures you from having a great part of your money melted down . for in that way there being a greater inequality in the weight of the pieces , some being too heavy and some too light , those who know how to make their advantage of it , cull out the heavy pieces , melt them down , and make a benefit of the over-weight . 2. coinage by the hammer exposes you much more to the danger of false coin. because the tools are easily made and concealed , and the work carried on with fewer hands , and less noise than a mill ; whereby false coiners are less liable to discovery . 3. the pieces not being so round , even , and fairly stamp'd , nor marked on the edges are expos'd to clipping , which mill'd money is not . mill'd-money is therefore certainly best for the publique . but whatever be the cause of melting down our mill'd-money , i do not see how raising our money ( as they call it ) will at all hinder its being melted down . for if our crown-pieces should be coin'd 1 / 20 lighter ; why should that hinder them from being melted down more than now . the intrinsique value of the silver is not alter'd , as we have shewn already : therefore that temptation to melt them down remains the same as before . but they are lighter by 1 / 20. that cannot hinder them from being melted down . for half crowns are lighter by half , and yet that preserves them not . but they are of less weight , under the same denomination , and therefore they will not be melted down . that is true , if any of these present crowns that are 1 / ●0 heavier , are current for crowns at the same time . for then they will no more melt down the new light crowns , than they will the old clipp'd ones , which are more worth in coin , and tale , than in weight and bullion . but it cannot be suppos'd that men will part with their old and heavier money , at the same rate that the lighter new coin goes at ; and pay away their old crowns for 5 s. in tale , when at the mint they will yield them 5 s. 3 d. and then if an old mill'd crown goes for 5 s. 3 d. and a new mill'd crown ( being so much lighter ) go for a crown , what i pray will be the odds of melting down the one or the other ? the one has 1 / 20 less silver in it , and goes for 1 / 20 less , and so being weight , they are melted down upon equal terms . if it be a convenience to melt one , it will , be as much a convenience to melt the other ; just as it is the same convenience , to melt mi●l'd half crowns as mill'd crowns ; the one having with half the quantity of silver , half the value . when the money is all brought to the new rate , i. e. to be ● / 20 lighter , and commodities raised as they will proportionably ; what shall hinder the melting down of your money then more than now , i would fain know ? if it be coin'd then as it is now g●●tis , a crown piece , ( let it be of what weight soever ) will be as it is now , just worth it s own weight in bullion , of the same fineness for the coinage , which is the manufactury about it , and makes all the difference , ●●●●ing nothing ; what can make the difference of value ? and therefore , whoever wants bullion , will as cheaply melt down these new crowns , as buy bullion with them . the raising of your money cannot then ( the act for free coinage standing ) hinder its being meltted down . nor , in the next place , much less can it , as is pretended , hinder the exportation of our bullion . any denomination or stamp we shall give to silver here , will neither give silver a higher value in england , nor make it less prized abroad . so much silver will always be worth ( as we have already shew'd ) so much silver given in exchange one for another . nor will it , when in your mint a less quantity of it is raised to a higher denomination ( as when 19 / 20 of an ounce has now the denomination of a crown , which formerly belong'd only to the whole 20 ) be one jot raised , in respect of any other commodity . you have rais'd the denomination of your stamped silver 1 / 20 , or which is all one 5 per cent. and men will presently raise their commodities 5 per cent. so that if yesterday 20 crowns would exchange for 20 bushels of wheat , or 20 yards of a certain sort of cloth , if you will to day coin current crowns 1 / 20 lighter , and make them the standard , you will find 20 crowns will exchange for but 19 bushels of wheat , or 19 yards of that cloth , which will be just as much silver for a bushel , as yesterday . so that silver being of no more real value , by your changing your denomination , and giving it a less quantity ; this will no more bring in , or keep your bullion here , than if you had done nothing . if this were otherwise , you would be beholden ( as some people foolishly imagin ) to the clippers for keeping in your money . for if keeping the old denomination to a less quantity of silver , be raising your money ( as in effect it is all that is or can be done in it by this project of making your coin lighter ) the clippers have sufficiently done that ; and if their trade go on a little while longer , at the rate it has of late , and your mi●l'd-money be melted down and carried away , and no more coin'd ; your money will , without the charge of new coinage , be , by that sort of artificers , raised above 5 per cent , when all your current money shall be clipp'd , and made above 1 / ●0 lighter than the standard , preserving still its former denomination . it will possibly be here objected to me , that we see 100 l. of clipt money , above 5 per cent lighter than the standard , will buy as much corn , cloth , or wine , as 100 l. in mill'd mon●y , which is 1 / 20 heavier ; whereby it is evident that my rule fails , that it is not the quantity of silver that gives the value to money , but its stamp and denomination . to which i answer , that men make their estimate and contracts according to the standard , upon supposition they shall receive good and lawful money ; which is that of full weight ; and so in effect they do , whil'st they receive the current money of the country . for since 100 l. of clipt money will pay a debt of 100 l. as well as the weightiest mill'd money , and a new crown out of the mint will pay for no more flesh , fruit , or cloth , than five clipt shillings ; 't is evident that they are equivalent as to the purchase of any thing here at home , whil'st no body scruples to take five clipt shillings in exchange for a weighty mill'd crown . but this will be quite otherwise as soon as you change your coin , and● to raise it , as you call it ) make your money 1 / ●0 lighter in the mint ; for then no body will any more give an old crown of the former standard for one of the new , than he will now give you 5 s. and 3 d. for a crown ; for so much then his old crown will yield him at the mint . clipt and unclipt money will always buy an equal quantity of any thing else , as long as they will without scrup●e change one for another . and this makes that the foreign merchant , that comes to fell his goods to you , always counts upon the value of your money by the silver that is in it , and estimates the quantity of silver by the standard of your mint ; though perhaps by reason of clipt money , any sum that is ordinarily received is much lighter than the standard , and so has less silver in it than what is in a like sum new coin'd in the mint . but whilst clipt and weighty will equally change one for another , it is all one to him whether he receive his money in clipt money or no , so it be but current . for if he buy other commodities here with his money , whatever sum he contracts for , clipt as well as weighty money equally pays for it . if he would carry away the price of his commodity in ready cash , 't is easily chang'd into weighty money ; and then he has not only the sum in tale that he contracted for , but the quantity of silver he expected for his commodities , according to the standard of our mint . if the quantity of your clipt money be once grown so great , that the foreign merchant cannot ( if he has a mind to it ) easily get weighty money for it , but having sold his merchandise , and received clip'd money , finds a difficulty to procure what is weight for it ; he will , in selling his goods , either contract to be paid in w●ighty money , or else raise● the price of his commodities , according to the diminish'd quantities of silver in your current coin. in holland , ( ducatoons being the best money of the country , as well as the largest coin ) men , in payments , received and paid those indifferently , with the other money of the country , till of late the coining of other species of money , of baser alloy , and in greater quantities , having made the ducatoons , either by melting down , or exportation , scarcer than formerly , it became difficult to change the baser money into ducatoons ; and since that no body will pay a debt in ducatoons , unless he be allowed ½ per cent , more than they were coin'd for . to understand this , we must take notice , that guilders is the denomination that in holland they usually compute by , and make their contracts in . a ducatoon formerly passed at three guilders , and three stuyvers , or 63 stuyvers . there were then ( some years since ) began to be coin'd another piece , which was call'd a three guilders piece , and was order'd to pass for three guilders , or sixty stuyvers . but 21 three guilders pieces , which were to pass for 63 guilders , not having so much silver in them as 20 ducatoons , which passed for the same summ of 63 guilders , the ducatoon● were either melted down in their mints , for the making of these 〈…〉 , or yet baser money , with profit ; or were carried away by foreign merchants ; who when they carried back the product of their sale in money , would be sure to receive their payment of the number of guilders they contracted for in ducatoons , or change the money they received into ducatoons ; whereby they carried home more silver than if they had taken thei payment in three guilder pi●ces , or any other species . thus ducatoons became scarce . so that now he that will be paid in ducatoons must allow ½ per cent , for them . and therefore the merchants , when they sell any thing now , either make their bargain to be paid in ducatoons , or if they contract for guilders in general , ( which will be sure to be paid them in the baser money of the country ) they raise the price of their commodities accordingly . by this example in a neighbour country , we may see how our new mill'd money goes away . when foreign trade imports more than our commodities will pay for ; 't is certain , we must contract debts beyond sea , and those must be paid with money , when either we cannot furnish , or they will not take our goods to discharge them to have money beyond sea to pay our debts , when our commodities do not raise it , there is no other way but to send it thither . and since a weighty crown costs no more here than a light one ; and our coin beyond sea , is valued no otherwise than according to the quantity of silver it has in it ; whether we send it in specie , or whether we melt it down here , to send it in bullion ( which is the safest way , as being not prohibited ) the weightiest is sure to go . but when so great a quantity of your money is clip'd , or so great a part of your weighty money is carried away , that the foreign merchant , or his factor here , cannot have his price paid in weighty money , or such as will easily be changed into it , then every one will see , ( when men will no longer take five clip'd shillings for a mill'd or weighty crown ) that it is the quantity of silver that buys commodities and pays debts , and not the stamp and denomination which is put upon it . and then too it will be seen what a robbery is committed on the publick , by clipping . every grain diminished from the just weight of our money , is so much loss to the nation ; which will , one time or other , be sensibly felt ; and which , if it be not taken care of , and speedily stop'd , will , in that enormous course it is now in , quickly , i fear , break out into open ill effects ; and , at one blow , deprive us of a great part , ( perhaps , near ¼ ) of our money . for that will be really the case , when the increase of clip'd money makes it hard to get weighty , and men begin to put a difference of value between that which is weighty , and light money , and will not sell their commodities but for money that is weight , and will accordingly make their bargains . let the country gentleman , when it comes to that pass , consider what the decay of his estate will be , when receiving his rent in the tale of clip'd shillings● according to his bargain , he cannot get them to pass at market for more than their weight . and he that sells him salt or silk , will bargain for 5 s. such a quantity , if he pays him in fair weighty coin , but in clip'd money he will not take under 5 s. 3 d. here you see you have your money without this new trick of coinage , raised 5 per cent. but whether to any advantage of the kingdom i leave every one to judge . hitherto we have only consider'd the r●isi●g of silver c●in , and that has been only by coining it with les● silver in it , under the same denomination . there is another way yet of raising money , which has something more of reality , though as little good as the former in it : which now , that we are upon the chapter of raising of money , it may not be amiss to mention ; and that is , when either of the two richer metals , ( which money is usually made of ) is by law raised above its natural value , in respect of the other . gold and silver , have , in almost all ages and parts of the world ( where money was used ) generally been thought the fittest materials to make it of . but there being a great disproportion in the plenty of these metals in the world , one has always been valued much higher than the other ; so that one ounce of gold has exchanged for several ounces of silver : as at present , our guinea passing for 21 s. 6 d. in silver , gold is now about 15 ½ times more worth than silver ; there being about 15 ½ times more silver in 21 s. 6 d. than there is gold in a guinea . this being now the market rate of gold to silver ; if by an established law the rate of guinea's should be set higher , ( as to 22 s. and 6 d. ) they would be raised indeed , but to the loss of the kingdom . for by this law gold being raised , 5 per cent above its natural true value , foreigners would find it worth while to send their gold hither , and so fetch away your silver at 5 per cent profit , and so much loss to you . for when so much gold as would purchase but 100 ounces of silver any where else , will in england purchase the merchant 105 ounces , what shall hinder him from bringing his gold to so good a market ; and ( ei●her selling it at the mint , where it will yield so much , or having it coin'd into guinea's ) either go with them to market , with that advantage of 5 per cent in the very sort of his money , or change them into silver , and carry that away with him ? on the other side , if by a law you would raise your silver money and make 4 crowns or 20 s. in silver , equal to a guinea , at which rate i suppose it was first coin'd ; so that by your law a guinea should pass but for 20 s. the same inconvenience would follow . for then strangers would bring in silver , and carry away your gold , which was to be had here at a lower rate than any where else . if you say , that this inconvenience is not to be fear'd ; for that as soon as people found that gold began to grow scarce , or that it was more worth than the law set upon it , they would not then part with it at the statute-rate ; as we see the broad pieces that were coin'd in k. iames i. time for 20 s. no body will now part with under 23 s. or more , according to the market value ; this i grant is true ; and it does plainly confess the foolishness of making a law which cannot produce the effect it is made for ; as indeed it will not , when you would raise the price of silver in respect of gold , above its natural market value : for then , as we see in our gold , the price of it will raise its self . but on the other side , if you should by a law set the value of gold above its 〈◊〉 then peopl● would be bound to receive it at that high rate , and so part with their silver at an under value . but supposing that having a mind to raise your silver in re●pect of 〈◊〉 ( for when you would raise the value of money , fansie what you will 't is but in respect of something you 〈…〉 it for , and is only 〈…〉 make a less quantity of the 〈…〉 money is made of change 〈…〉 quantity of that thing 〈…〉 to ) you make a law 〈…〉 of that ? if your law 〈…〉 that as much as you 〈…〉 gold ( for they are 〈…〉 things pu● in 〈…〉 the one 〈…〉 clear loss to the kingdom as you raise silver and debase gold by your law , below their natural value . if you raise gold in proportion to silver the same effect follows . the effect and ill consequence indeed is not so easily observed in the one as in the other : because your accounts being kept , and your reckonings all made in pounds , shillings , and pence , which are denominations of silver coins or numbers of them ; if gold be made current at a rate above the free and market value of those two metals , every one will easily perceive the inconvenience . but there being a law for it , you cannot refuse the gold in payment for so much . and all the money or bullion people will carry beyond sea from you will be in silver , and the money or bullion brought in , will be in gold and the same just will happen when your silver is raised and gold debased in respect of one another , beyond their true and natural proportion : ( natural proportion or value i call that respective rate they find any where without the prescription of law ) for then silver will be that which is brought in , and gold will be carried out ; and that still with loss to the kingdom , answerable to the over-value , set by the law. only as soon as the mischief is felt , people will ( do what you can ) raise their gold to its natural value . for your accounts and bargains being made in the denomination of silver-money ; if , when gold is raised above its proportion , by the law , you cannot refuse it in payment , ( as if the law should make a guinea current at 22 s. and 6 d. you are bound to take it at that rate in payment ; but if the law should make guineas current at 20 s. he that has them is not bound to pay them away at that rate , but may keep them if he pleases , or get more for them if he can : yet from such a law , one of these 3 things follow . either 1st , the law forces them to go at 20 s. and then being found passing at that rate , foreigners make their advantage of it ; or 2 ly , people keep them up and will not part with them at the legal rate , understanding them really to be worth more , and then all your gold lies dead , and is of no more use to trade than if it were all gone out of the kingdom ; or 3 ly , it passes for more than the law allows , and then your law signifies nothing , and had been better let alone . which way ever it succeeds it proves either prejudicial or ineffectual . if the design of your law take place , the kingdom loses by it ; if the inconvenience be felt and avoided , your law is eluded . mo●ny is measure of commerce , and of the rate of every thing , and therefore ought to be kept ( as all other measures ) as steady and unvariable as may be . but this cannot be● if your money be made of two me●●l● , whose proportion , and consequently whose price , constantly varies in respect of one another . silver , for many reasons is the 〈◊〉 of all metals to be this measure , and therefore generally made use of for money . but then it is very unfit and inconvenient , that gold , or any other met●l should be made current legal money● at a standing settled rate . this i● to do by law , what justly cannot be done ; set a rate upon the varying value of things ; and is● a● i have shew'd , as far 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 , a constant damage and prej●dice to the country where it is prac●ised . suppose fifteen to one be now the exact p●r between g●ld and si●ver ; 〈…〉 make it lasting , and establish it so tha● next year , or twenty years 〈…〉 just value of gold to silver● and that one ounce of gold shall be 〈…〉 ounces of silver , neither more nor les● ? ●tis possible , the 〈…〉 trade sweeping away great 〈◊〉 of gold , may make it scarcer in 〈◊〉 . pe●haps the guinea trade , and mines of peru , affording it in a greater abundance , may make it more plentiful ; and so its value in respect of silver , come on the one side to be as sixteen , or on the other as fourteen to one . and can any law you shall make alter this proportion here , when it is so every where else round about you ? if your law set it at fifteen , when it is at the free market rate , in the neighbouring countries , as sixteen to one ; will they not send hither their silver to fetch away your gold at 1 / 16 loss to you ? or if you will keep its rate to silver , as fifteen to one , when in holland , france , and spain , its market value is but fourteen ; will they not send hither their gold● and fetch away your silver at 1 / 1● loss to you ? this is unavoidable , if you will make money of both gold and silver at the same time , and set rates upon them by law in respect of one another . what then ? ( will you be ready to say ) would you have gold kept out of engl●nd ? or being here , would you have it useless to trade , and must there be no money made of it ? i answer , quite the contrary . 't is sit the kingdom should make use of the treasure it has . 't is necessary your gold should be coin'd , and have the kings stamp upon it to secure men in receiving it , that there is so much gold in each piece . but 't is not necessary that it should have a fixed value set on it by publick authority . 't is not convenient that it should in its varying proportion have a settled price . let gold , as other commodities , find its own rate . and when , by the kings image and inscription , it carries with it a publick assurance of its weight and fineness ; the gold money so coin'd will never fail to pass at the known market rates ; as readily as any other twenty 〈◊〉 , though designed at first for 20 l , go now as current for 21 l. 10 s. as any other money , and sometimes for more , as the rate varies . the value or price of any thing being only the respective estimate it bears to some other , which it comes in competition with , can only be known by the quantity of the one which will exchange for a certain quantity of the other . there being no two things in nature , whose proportion and use does not vary , 't is impossible to set a standing regular price between them . the growing plenty or scarcity of either in the market ; ( whereby i mean the ordinary places , where they are to be had in tra●fick ) the real use , or changing fashion of the place bringing either of them more into demand than formerly ; presently varies the respective value of any two things . you will as fruitlesly endeavour to keep two different things steadily at the same price one with another , as to keep two things in an aequilibrium , where their varying weights depend on different causes . put a piece of spunge in one scale , and an exact counterpoise of silver in the other , you will be mightily mistaken if you imagine , that because th●t they are to day equal they shall always remain so . the weight of the spunge varying with every change of moisture in the air , the silver in the opposite scale will sometimes rise and sometimes fall. this is just the state of silver and gold in regard of their mutual value . their proportion , or use , may , nay constantly does vary , and with it their price . for being estimated one in reference to the other , they are as it were put in opposite scales , and as the one rises the other falls , and so on the contrary . farthings made of a baser metal , may on this account too deserve your consideration . for whatsoever coin you make current , above the intrinsick value , will always be dammage to the publick , whoever get by it . but of this i shall not at present enter into a more particular enquiry . only this i will confidently affirm , that it is the interest of every country , that all the current . money of it should be of one and the same metal ; that the several species should be all of the same alloy , and none of a baser mixture : and that the standard once thus settled , should be inviolably and immutably kept to perpetuity . for whenever that is alter'd upon what pretence soever , the publick will lose by it . since then it will neither bring us in more money , bullion , nor trade ; nor keep that we have here ; nor hinder our weighty money of what denomination soever from being melted ; to what purpose should the kingdom be at the charge of coining all our money a-new ? for i do not suppose any body can propose , that we should have two sorts of money at the same time , one heavier , and the other lighter , as it comes from the mint . that is very absurd to imagine . so that if all your old money must be coin'd over again , it will indeed be some advantage , and that a very considerable one , to the officers of the mint . for they being allow'd 3 s. 6 d. for the coinage of every pound troy , which is very near 5 ½ per cent ; if our money be six millions , and must be coin'd all over again , it will cost the nation to the mint 330000 l. if the c●ipt money must scape , because it is already as light as your new standard ; do you not own that this design of new coinage is just of the nature of c●ipping ? this business of money and coinage is by some men , and amongst them some very ingenious persons , thought a great mystery , and very hard to be understood . not that truly in it self it is so : but because interessed people that treat of it , wrap up the secret they make advantage of in mystical , obscure , and unintelligible ways of talking ; which men , from a preconceiv'd opinion of the difficulty of the subject , taking for sense , in a matter not easie to be penetrated but by the men of art , let pass for current without examination . whereas , would they look into those discourses , enquire what meaning their words have , they would find , for the most part , either their positions to be false ; their deductions to be wrong ; or ( which often happens ) their words to have no distinct meaning at all . where none of these be ; there , their plain , true● honest sense , would prove very easie and intelligible , if express'd in ordinary and direct language . that this is so , i shall shew , by examining a printed sheet on this subject , intituled , remarks on a paper given in to the lords , &c. remarks . 't is certain , that what place soever will give most for silver by weight , it will thither be carried and sold : and if of the money which now passes in england , there can be 5 s. 5 d. the ounce , given for standard silver at the mint ; when but 5 s. 4 d. of the very same money can be given elsewhere for it ; it will be certainly brought to the mint ; and when coined , cannot be sold , ( having one penny over-value set upon it by the ounce ) for the same that other plate may be bought for , so will be left unmelted ; at least , 't will be the interest of any exporters , to buy plate to send out , before money ; whereas now 't is his interest to buy money to send out before plate . answ. the author would do well to make it intelligible , how , of the money that now passes in england , at the mint can be given 5 s. 5 d. the ounce for standard silver , when but 5 s. 4 d. of the same money can be given elsewhere for it . next , how it has one penny over-value set upon it by the ounce ; so that , when coin'd it cannot be sold. this , to an ordinary reader , looks very mysterious ; and , i fear , is so ; as either signifying nothing at all , or nothing that will hold . for , 1. i ask who is it at the mint , that can give 5 s. 5 d. per ounce , for standard silver , when no body else can give above 5 s. 4 d ? is it the king , or is it the master worker , or any of the officers ? for to give 5 s. 5 d. for what will yield but 5 s. 4 d. to any body else , is to give 1 / ●5 part more than it is worth . for so much every thing is worth , as it will yield . and i do not see how this can turn to account to the king , or be born by any body else . 2. i ask , how a penny over-value can be set upon it by the o●ne● ; so that it cannot be sold ? this is so mysterious , that i think it near impossible . for an equal quantity of standard silver will always be just worth an equal quantity of standard silver . and it is utterly impossible to make 64 parts of standard silver equal to , or worth 65 parts of the same standard silver ; which is meant by setting a penny over-value upon it by the ounce , if that has any meaning at all . indeed , by the workmanship of it , 64 ounces of standard silver may be made not only worth 65 ounces , but 70 or 80. but the coinage , which is all the workmanship here , being paid for by a tax , i do not see how that can be reckon'd at all : or if it be , it must raise every 5 s and 4 d coin'd , to above 5 s. 5 d. if i carry 64 ounces of standard silver in bullion to the mint , to be coin'd ; shall i not have just 64 ounces back again for it in coin ? and if so , can these 64 ounces of coin'd standard silver , be possibly made worth 65 ounces of the same standard silver uncoin'd ; when they cost me no more , and i can , for barely going to the mint , have 64 ounces of standard silver in bullion turn'd into coin ? cheapness of coinage in england , where it costs nothing , will , indeed , make money be sooner brought to the mint , than any where else ; because there i have the convenience of having it made into mony for nothing . but this will no more keep it in england , than if it were perfect bullion . nor will it hinder it from being melted down ; because it cost no more in coin than in bullion : and this equally , whether your pieces , of the same denomination , be lighter , heavier , or just as they were before . this being explain'd , 't will be easie to see , whether the other things , said in the same paragraph , be true or false ; and particularly , whether 't will be the interest of every exporter , to buy plate to send out before money . remark . 't is only barely asserted , that 〈◊〉 silver be raised at the mint , that 't will ●●ise elsewhere above it ; but can never be known till it be tried . answ. the author tells us in the last paragraph , that si●v●r th●t is worth but 5 s. 2 d. per ounce at the 〈◊〉 is w●●th 5 s. 4 d. elsewhere . this how true or what inconvenience it 〈…〉 not here examine . but be the inconvenience of it what it will , this raising the money he proposes as a remedy : and to those who say , upon raising our money silver will rise too , he makes this answer , that it can never be known , whether it will or no , till it be tried . to which i reply , that it may be known as certainly , without trial , as it can , that two pieces of silver that weighed equally yesterday , will weigh equally again to morrow in the same scales . there is silver , ( says our author ) whereof an ounce ( i. e. 480 grains ) will change for 5 s. 4 d. ( i. e. 496 grains ) of our standard silver coin'd . to morrow you coin your money lighter ; so that then 5 s. 4 d. will have but 472 grains of coin'd standard silver in it . can it not then be known , without trial , whether that ounce of silver , which to day will change for 496 grains of standard silver coin'd , will change to morrow but for 472 grains of the same standard silver coin'd ? or can any one imagine that 480 grains of the same silver , which to day are worth 496 grains of our coin'd silver , will to morrow be worth but 472 grains of the same silver , a little differently coin'd ? he that can have a doubt about this till it be tried , may as well demand a trial to be made , to prove , that the same thing is aequiponderent , or aequivalent to it self . for i think it is as clear , that 472 grains of silver are aequiponderent to 496 grains of silver , as that an ounce of silver , that is to day worth 496 grains of standard silver , should to morrow be worth but 472 gr. of the same standard silver ; all circumstances remaining the same , but the different weight of the pieces stamp'd : which is that our author asserts , when he says , that 't is only barely asserted , &c. what has been said to this , may serve also for an answer to the next parapraph . only i desire it may be taken notice of , that the author seems to insinuate that silver goes not in england , as in foreign parts , by weight ; which is a very dangerous as well as false position ; and which , if allowed , may let into our mint what corruption and debasing of our money one pleases . remark . that our trade hath heretofore furnished us with an overplus , brought home in gold and silver , is true : but that we bring home from any place more goods than we now export to it , i do not conceive to be so . and more goods might be sent to those parts ; but by reason of the great value of silver in this part of the world , more money is to be got by exporting silver , than by any other thing that can be sent ; and that is the reason of it . and for its being melted down , and sent out , because it is so heavy , is not by their paper denied . answ. that we bring home from any place more goods than we now export , ( the author tells us ) he doth not conceive . would he had told us a reason for his conceit . but since the money of any country is not presently to be changed , upon any private man's groundless conceit , i suppose this argument will not be of much weight with many men. i make bold to call it a groundless conceit ; for if the author please to remember the great sums of money are carried every year to the east-indies , for which we bring home consumable commodities ; ( though i must own that it pays us again with advantage . ) or if he will examine how much only two commodities , wholly consumed here , cost us yearly in money , ( i mean canary wine and currants ) more than we pay for with goods exported to the canaries and zant ; besides the over-ballance of trade upon us in several other places ; he will have little reason to say , he doth not conceive we bring home from any place more goods than we ●ow export to it . as to what he says concerning the melting down and exporting our money , because it is heavy ; if by heavy , he means , because our crown-pieces ( and the rest of our sp●cies of money in proportion ) are 23 or 24 grains heavier than he would have them coin'd . this , whoever grants it , i deny ; upon grounds which i suppose , when examined , will be found clear and evident . indeed when your debts beyond sea , to answer the over-ballance of foreign importations , call for your money ; 't is certain the heavy money , that is that which has the standard weight , will be melted down and carried away ; because foreigners value not your stamp , but your silver . he would do well to tell us what he means by the great value of silver in this part of the world. for he speaks of it as a cause that draws away our money more now than formerly ; or else it might as well have been omitted as mentioned in this place : and if he mean , by this part of the world , england ; 't is scarce sense to say . that the great value of silver in england should draw silver out of england . if he means the neighbouring countreys to england , he should have said it , and not doubtfully this part of the world. but let him● by this part of the world , mean what he will , i dare say every one will agree , that silver is not more valued in this , than any other part of the world ; nor in this age , more than in our grandfathers days . i am sorry if it be true , what he tells us , that more money is to be got by exportation of silver , than by any other thing that can be sent . this is an evidence , that we bring home more goods than we export : for till that happens , and has brought us in debt beyond sea , silver will not be exported ; but the overplus of peoples gain , being generally laid up in silver , it will be brought home in silver ; and so our people will value it as much as any other , in this part of the world. the truth of the case in short is this . whenever we , by a losing trade , contract debts with our neighbours ; they will put a great value on our silver , and more money will be got by transporting silver than any thing can be sent : which comes about thus . suppose that , by an over-ballance of their trade ( whether by a sale of pepper , spices , and other east-india commodities , it matters not ) we have received great quantities of goods , within these two or three months , from h●lland , and sent but little thither ; so that the accounts ballanced between the inhabitants of england and the united provinces , we of england were a million in their debt ; what would follow from hence ? this : that these dutch creditors , desiring to have what is due to them , give order to their factors and correspondents here , to return it them . for enquiring , as we do , what are the effects of an over-ballance of trade , we must not suppose they invest their debts in commodities , and return their effects that way . a million then being to be returned from england to holland in money , every one seeks bills of exchange : but englishmen not having debts in holland to answer this million , or any the least part of it , bills are not to be got . this presently makes the exchange very high ; upon which the bankers , &c. who have the command of great quantities of money and bullion , send that away to holland in specie , and so take money here to pay it again there upon their bills at such a rate of exchange as gives them five , ten , fifteen , &c. per cent. profit ; and thus sometimes a 5 s. piece of our mill'd money may truely be said to be worth 5 s. 3 d. 4 d. 6 d. 9 d. in holland . and if this be the great value of silver in this part of the world , i easily grant it him . but this great value is to be remedied , not by the alteration of our mint , but by the regulation and ballance of our trade . for be your coin what it will , our neighbours , if they over-ballance us in trade , will not only have a great value for our silver , but get it too ; and there will be more to be got by exporting silver to them , than by any other thing can be sent . remarks . the alteration of the coins in spain and portugal are no way at all like this . for there they alter'd in denomination near half , to deceive those they paid , with paying those to whom they owed one ounce of silver , but half an ounce for it . but in the alteration here designed , to whoever an ounce of silver was owing , an ounce will be paid in this money ; it being here only designed , that an ounce of money should equal an ounce of silver in value , at home , as well as abroad , which now it does not . answer . in this paragraph the author confesses the alteration of the coin in spain and portugal was a cheat ; but the alteration here design'd , he says , is not : but the reason he gives for it is admirable ; viz. because they there alter'd in denomination near half , and here the denomination is alter'd but 5 per cent ; for so in truth it is , whatever be designed . as if 50 per cent were a cheat , but 5 per cent were not ; because perhaps less perceiveable . for the two things that are pretended to be done here by this new coinage , i fear will both fail , viz. 1. that to whom 〈◊〉 an ounce of silver is owing , an ounce 〈◊〉 silver shall be paid in this money . for when an ounce of silver is coin'd , as is proposed , into 5 s. 5 d. ( which is to make our money 5 per cent. higher than it is now ) i that am to receive an 100 l. per annum , fee farm rent ; shall i in this new money receive 105 l. or barely 100 l. ? the first i think will not be said . for if by law you have made it 100 l. 't is certain the tenant will pay me no more . if you do not mean that 400 crowns , or 2000 shillings of your new coin shall be an 100 l. but there must be 5 per cent , in tale , added to every 100 , you are at the charge of new coinage to no other purpose but to breed confusion . if i must receive 100 l , by tale , of this new money for my fee farm rent , 't is demonstration that i lose five ounces per cent of the silver was due to me . this a little lower he confesses in these words , that where a man has a rent-sec , that can never be more , this may somewhat affect it , but so very little , that it will scarce ever at all be perceived . this very little is 5 per cent. and if a man be cheated of that , so he perceives it not , it goes for nothing . but this loss will not affect only such rents as can never be more , but all payments whatsoever that are contracted for before this alteration of our money . 2. if it be true , what he affirms , that an ounce of money doth equal an ounce of silver in value abroad , but not at home ; then this part of the undertaking will also fail . for i deny that the stamp on our money does any more debase it here at home than abroad , or make the silver in our money not equal in value to the same weight of silver every where . the author would have done well to have made it out , and not left so great a paradox only to the credit of a single assertion . remarks . and for what is said in this bill to prevent exportation , relates only to the keeping in our coin , and bullion , and leaves all foreign to be exported still . answer . what the author means by our own and foreign bullion , will need some explication . remarks . there is now no such thing as payments made in weighty and mill'd money . answer . i believe there are very few in town , who do not very often receive a mill'd crown for 5 s. and a mill'd half crown for 2 s. 6 d. but he means i suppose in great and entire sums of mill'd money . but i ask , if all the clipp'd money were call'd in , whether then all the payments would not be in weighty money ; and that not being call'd in , whether if it be lighter than your new mill'd money , the new mill'd money will not be melted down as much as the old ; which i think the author there confesses , or else i understand him not . remark . nor will this any way interrupt trade ; for trade will find its own course ; the denomination of money in any country no way concerning that . answ. the denomination to a certain weight of money , in all countries , concerns trade ; and the alteration of that necessarily brings disturbance to it . remark . for if so be it occasions the coining more money , answ. he talks as if it would be the occasion of coining more money . out of what ? out of money already coin'd , or out of bullion ? for i would be glad to know where it is . remarks . it may be some gain to those that will venture to melt down the coin , but very small loss ( if any ) to those that shall be paid in the new : 't is not to be denied , but that where any man has a rent-sec , that can never be more , this may somewhat affect it ; but so very little , 't will scarce ever at all be perceived . ans. as much as it will be gain to melt down their coin , so much loss will it ●e to those who are paid in the new : 〈◊〉 5 per cent ● which , i suppose , is more than the author would be willing to lose , unless he get by it another way . rem . and if the alteration designed should have the effect of making our native commodities any way dearer , ans. here the author confesses , that proportionably as your money is raised , the price of other things will be raised too . but to make amends , he says , rem . it does at the same time make the land which produces them , of more than so much more in value . ans. this more than so much more in value , is more than our author , or any body else for him , will ever be able to make out . the price of things will always be estimated by the quantity of silver is given in exchange for them . and if you make your money less in weight , it must be made up in tale. this is all this great mystery of raising money , and raising land. for example , the mannor of blackacre would yesterday have yielded 100000 crowns , which , let us suppose , numero re●und● , to be ounces a piece of standard silver . to day your new coin comes in play , which is 5 per cent lighter . there 's your money raised . the land now at sale yields 105000 crowns , which is just the same 100000 ounces of standard silver . there 's the land raised . and is not this an admirable invention , for which the publick ought to be at charges for new coinage , and all your commerce put in disorder ? and then to recommend this invention , you are told , as a great secret , that , had not money , from time to time , been raised in its denomination , lands had not so risen too : which is to say , had not your money been made lighter , fewer pieces of it would have bought as much land as a greater number does now . rem . the loss of payments therespoken of , will , in no sort , be so great as if the parties to whom these debts are owing , were now bound to receive them in the money now passes , and then to melt the same down ; so at this they will have no cause to complain . ans. a very good argument ! the clippers have rob'd the publick of a good part of their money ( which men will , some time or other , find in the payments they receive ) and 't is desired the mint may have a liberty to be before-hand in it . they are told they will have no reason to complain at it , who suffer this loss ; because it is not so great as the other . the damage is already done to the publick , by clipping . where at last it will light , i cannot tell . but men who receive clip'd money , not being forced to melt it down , do not yet receive any loss by it . when clip'd money will no longer change for weighty , than those who have clip'd money in their hands , will find the loss of it . rem . 't will make the customs better paid , because there will be more money . ans. that there will be more money in tale , 't is possible : that there will be more money in weight and worth , the author ought to shew . and then , what-ever becomes of the customs , ( which i do not hear are unpaid now ) the king will lose in the excise above 30000 l. per annum . for in all taxes where so many pounds , shillings , or pence are determin'd by the law to be paid , there the king will lose 5 per cent. the author here , as in other places , gives a good reason for it . for , his majesty being to pay away this money by tale , as he received it , it will be to him no loss at all . as if my receiving my rents in full tale , but in money of undervalue 5 per cent , were not so much loss to me , because i was to pay it away again by tale. try it at 50 per cent. the odds only is , that one being greater than the other , would make more noise . but our author 's great refuge in this is , that it will not be perceived . remark . if all foreign commodities were to be purchased with this new species of money sent out ; we agree , that with 100 l. of it there could not be so much silver or other commodities bought , as with 100 l. in crown pieces as now coined ; because they would be heavier ; and all coin in any kingdom , but where 't is coined , only goes by weight ; and for the same weight of silver , the same every where still will be bought ; and so there will , with the same quantity of goods . and if those goods should cost 5 per cent more here in england than heretofore , an● yield but the same money ( we mean by the ounce abroad ) the same money brought ho●●●nd coined , will yield the importer 5 per cent more at the mint than it heretofore could do , and so no damage to the trader at all . answ. here truth forces from the author a confession of two things , which demonstrate the vanity and usele●nes● of the project . 1. that upon this c●ange of your coin , foreign goods will be raised . 2. your own goods will 〈◊〉 more 5 per cent. so that goods of all kind● being thereupon raised ; wherein con●●● the raising of your money , when an 〈◊〉 of standard silver , however 〈◊〉 ●tamped , or denominated , will buy 〈◊〉 more commodities than it did before ? this confession also shews the falshood of that dangerous supposition , that money , in the kingdom where it is coin'd , goes not by weight , i. e. is not valued by its weight . rem . 't is true , the owners of silver will find a good market for it , and no others will be damaged ; but , on the contrary , the making plenty of money will be an advantage to all . answ. i grant it true , that if your money were really raised , 5 per cent , the owners of silver would get so much by it , by bringing it to the mint to be coin'd . but since , as is confessed , commodities will ( upon this raising your money ) be raised to 5 per cent , this alteration will be an advantage to no body but the officers of the mint . rem . when standard silver was last raised at the mint , ( which it was , from 5 s to 5 s and 2 d the ounce , in the 43 d of eliz. ) and , for above forty years after , silver uncoin'd was not worth above 4 s 10 d the ounce , which occasioned much coining ; and of money , none in those days was exported : whereas silver now is worth but the very same 5 s and 2 d the ounce still at the mint , and is worth 5 s 4 d elsewhere . so that if this bill now with the lords does not happen to pass , there can never any silver be ever more coined at the mint ; and all the mill'd money will in a very little time more be destroyed . answ. the reason of so much money coin'd in queen elizabeth's time , and afterwards , was not the lessening your crown pieces from 480 to 462 gr . and so proportionably all the rest of your money , ( which is that the author calls , raising standard silver from 5 s to 5 s 2 d the ounce ) but from the over-ballance of your trade , bringing then in plenty of bullion , and keeping it here . how standard silver ( for if the author speaks of other silver , it is a fallacy ) should be worth it s own weight in standard silver at the mint , ( i. e. 5 s 2 d the ounce ) and be worth more than its own weight in standard silver , ( i. e. 5 s 4 d the ounce ) in lombard-street , is a paradox that no body , i think , will be able to comprehend , till it be better explain'd . it is time to give off coining , if the value of standard silver be lessened by it ; as really it is , if an ounce of coin'd standard silver will not exchange for an ounce of uncoin'd standard silver , but an ounce of coin'd standard silver will not exchange for an ounce of uncoin'd standard silver , unless you add 15 or 16 grains overplus to it : which is what the author would have taken upon his word , when he says , silver is worth five shillings four pence elsewhere . five shillings four pence of money coin'd at the mint , the author must allow to be at least 495 grains . an ounce is but 480 grains . how then an ounce of uncoin'd standard silver can be worth five shillings four pence , ( i. e. how 480 grains of uncoin'd standard silver can be worth 495 grains of the same standard silver , coin'd into money ) is unintelligible ; unless the coinage of our mint lessens the value of standard silver . sir , coin and interest are two things of so great moment to the publick , and of so great concernment in trade , that they ought , very accurately to be examin'd into , and very nicely weigh'd , upon any proposal of an alteration to be made in them . i pretend not to have treated of them here as they deserve . that must be the work of an abler hand . i have said something on th●se subjects , because you required it . and , i hope , the readiness of my obedience will excuse , to you , the faults i have committed , and assure you that i am , sir , your most humble servant . finis . 