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
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
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
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