Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	penny_n	pound_n	shilling_n	5,001	5	11.2551	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54625	A treatise of taxes and contributions shewing the nature and measures of [brace] crown-lands, assessments, customs, poll-moneys, lotteries, benevolence, penalties, monopolies, offices, tythes, raising of coins, harth-money, excize, &c. : with several intersperst discourses and digressions concerning [brace] warres, the church, universities, rents and purchases, usury and exchange, banks and lombards, registries for conveyances, beggars, ensurance, exportation of money/wool, free-ports, coins, housing, liberty of conscience, &c. : the same being frequently applied to the present state and affairs of Ireland.	Petty, William, Sir, 1623-1687.	1662 (1662)	Wing P1938; ESTC R33399	59,466	94

Highwayes building Bridges and Causeys and the making of Rivers Navigable in England would make English Horses an exportable Commodity and help to vend the Commodities of Ireland Ibid. The Causes of unquiet bearing of Taxes viz. 14 First That the Sovereign exacts too much 15 Secondly That Assessments are unequally laid Ibid. Thirdly That the Moneys levied are vainly expended Ibid. Fourthly Or given to Favourites Ibid. Fifthly Ignorance of the Number Trade and Wealth of the People 16 Sixthly Obscurity about the right of imposing Ibid. Seventhly Fewness of People Ibid. Eighthly Scarcity of Money and confusion of Coins 17 Ninthly That scarce an hundredth part of the Riches of this Nation is Coined Bullion Ibid. Tenthly The non-acceptance of Some Commodities in specie in discharge of Taxes Ibid. The Consequences of a Tax too heavy if there be too much Money in a Nation which may be or is there be too little and that either in a State well or ill governed 17 18 19 The first way of providing for the Publick Charge is the excinding or setting apart of a proportion of the Territory in the nature of Crown-Lands 20 The second is taking away the same proportion of the Rents of all Lands 21 The Nation is happy where either of the said two wayes is practised ab antiquo and upon original agreement and not exacted as a sudden contingent Surcharge upon the People 21 The Owners of settled Rents bear the burthen of a Land-Tax or Assessment others probably gaining thereby Ibid. A Land-Tax upon free Estates resolves into an Excize upon Consumptions 22 Assessment upon Housing more uncertain then that of Land Housing being of a double nature viz. either an instrument of gain or way of expence Ibid. The heavy taxing of Housing no discouragement to new Buildings nor is the discouragement of new Buildings any means to prevent the populousness of a City Ibid. Prohibition to build upon new Foundations serves onely to fix the Ground-plot of a City 23 The reason why the City of London removes its Ground-plot Westward Ibid. That 't is probable the King of Englands Palace will in process of time be towards Chelsey Ibid. That the present Seat of London will be the greatest Cohabitation of People ever whilst this Island is inhabited 24 The nature and natural Measures of the Rent of Land computed in Commodities of the growth of the said Land Ibid. The Par between food or other proceed of Land and Bullion or Coin 25 The Par between Gold and Silver Ibid. Gold and Silver are not natural Standards of the Values of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26 The prime Denominations of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are but two viz. Land and Labour as the Denominations of Money in England are Pounds Shillings Pence Ibid. Of the Par between Land and Labour Ibid. The reason of the number of years Purchase that Land is worth in several Countreys 27 Why Land in Ireland is worth fewer years Purchase then in England 27 28. The Description and Ratio formalis of Usury 29 The same of Exchange Ibid. The Measures of both 29 30 Why Usury hath been limited more then Exchange 30 A Parallel between the Changes of the Prince of Money and that of Land Ibid. How to compute and compare the Rents of Lands in order to a just Land-Tax or Assessment 31 The intrinsick value of Land is found by Surveys of the Quantity Figure and Scituation Ibid. And by the Survey of the Quality viz. its aptitude to bear first precious Commodities secondly the best of the kinde thirdly most in quantity Ibid. The extrinsick or accidental value depends upon the plenty of Money luxurious or frugal living the Opinions Civil Natural and Religious of the People Ibid. It is necessary to these Enquiries to know how to tell the Gold and Silver Coins of this present Age and compare the same with that of former times 32 How to compare not onely the Money of this present Age with that of the former but the entire Riches of the present with the former People Ibid. By the numbers of People and the proportion of Money amongst them the accidental values of Lands are to be computed 33 How to proportion the Rates of a Commodity in one place unto the Rates of the same in another place Ibid. That the Day-wages of Labourers and several other of the most vulgar Tradesmen ought to be ascertain'd and well adapted to the changes of time Ibid. That though the difficulty of computing the contingent values of Land be great yet there be greater reasons for undergoing it 34 The nature of Credit as the said word is commonly used among Tradesmen and otherwise Ibid. That the Sovereigns exact knowledge of the Subjects Estates would do them no harm Ibid. A descriptiou of the Duty of Customs 35 A Conjecture that Customs at first were a kinde of praemium for ensurance against Pyrates Ibid. The measures of the said Duty upon exported Goods 36 The inconvenience of too heavy Customs Ibid. What Commodities may be forced to pay Customs 37 The measures of Customs upon imported Goods Ibid. The inconveniences of raising money by the way of Customs Ibid. A Proposal that instead of Tunnage and Poundage upon shipped Goods a Tunnage were paid out of the ships Fraight 38 Or that the Customs were taken as an Ensurance praemium Ibid. Of prohibited Commodities in general Ibid. Of prohibiting the exportation of Money and Bullion 39 The said prohibition of Money serves as a sumptuary Law Ibid. About the exportation of Wool Ibid. The lessening of our Sheep-trade and encrease of Corn-tillage is an expedient in this case for many reasons 40 Other considerations tending to shew that the too vehement prohibitions of Wool may be ineffectual or to do more harm then good 41 Of prohibiting Importations Ibid. It were better to make and raise Commodities though to burn them then not to make them or let the makers lose their Faculty and be idle Ibid. Of Free Ports and in what cases they may do good or harm 42 Of Poll-money and the sorts of it Ibid. The faults of the late Poll-moneys 43 Of the most simple Poll-money where all pay alike its conveniencies and inconveniencies Ibid. Of Poll-money upon Titles Offices and Faculties 44 Harth-money is of the same nature with simple Poll-money but both are rather Accumulative Excizes 45 Grants for publick Lotteries are Taxes upon the people Ibid. Why Lotteries ought not to be allowed but by good authority Ibid. Raising of Money by Benevolence is a real Tax 46 Three cases where the way of a Benevolence may be made good Ibid Several reasons against it 46 47 The several species of Penalties 47 A doubt whether the Penalties set down in Moses Law ought to be inflicted now 47 The proper use and reason of every sort of Penalty 48 Perpetual Imprisonment is a kinde of slow death 49 In what case death mutilation imprisonment disgrace c. ought to be commuted for pecuniary mulcts

then that upon place which the practice of the world doth not unless it be that those who make such Laws were rather Borrowers then Lenders But of the vanity and fruitlessness of making Civil Positive Laws against the Laws of Nature I have spoken elsewhere and instanced in several particulars 4. As for the natural measures of Exchange I say that in times of Peace the greatest Exchange can be but the labour of carrying the money in specie but where are hazards emergent uses for money more in one place then another c. or opinions of these true or false the Exchange will be governed by them 5. Parallel unto this is something which we omit concerning the price of Land for as great need of money heightens Exchange so doth great need of Corn raise the price of that likewise and consequently of the Rent of the Land that bears Corn and lastly of the Land itself as for example if the Corn which feedeth London or an Army be brought forty miles thither then the Corn growing within a mile of London or the quarters of such Army shall have added unto its natural price so much as the charge of bringing it thirty nine miles doth amount unto And unto perishable Commodities as fresh fish fruits c. the ensurance upon the hazard of corrupting c. shall be added also and finally unto him that eats these things there suppose in Taverns shall be added the charge of all the circumstancial appurtenances of House-rent Furniture Attendance and the Cooks skill as well as his labour to accompany the same 6. Hence it comes to pass that Lands intrinsically alike near populous places such as where the perimeter of the Area that feeds them is great will not onely yield more Rent for these Reasons but also more years purchase then in remote places by reason of the pleasure and honour extraordinary of having Lands there for Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. 7. Having finished our digression upon the measures of the Rents and Values of Lands and Moneys we now return to our second way of leavying Publick Charges which was the taking of a proportion of the Rent commonly called Assessment it follows next to speak of the way of computing the said Rents otherwise then according to the bargains which a few men make one with another through ignorance haste false suggestion or else in their passion or drink Although I acknowledge that the medium or common result of all the bargains made within three years or other such Cycle of time as within which all contingencies of Land revolve may be very sufficient to this purpose being but the summe synthetically computed by casual opinions as I would endeavour to cast up analytically by a distinct particularizing of the Causes 8. 1. Therefore I propound a Survey of the Figures Quantities and Scituations of all the Lands both according to the civil bounds of Parishes Farms c. and the natural distinctions thereof by the Sea Rivers ridges of Rocks or Mountains c. 9. 2. I propound that the quality of each denomination were described by the Commodities it had usually born in some Land some sort of Timber Grain pulse or root growing more happily then in others Also by the encrease of things sown or planted which it hath yielded communibus annis and withall the comparative goodness of the said Commodities not unto the common Standard money but to one another As for example if there be ten acres of Land I would have it judged whether they be better for Hay or Corn if for Hay whether the said ten Acres will bear more or less of Hay then ten other Acres and whether an hundred weight of the said Hay will feed or fatten more or less then the same weight of other Hay and not as yet comparing it to money in which the value of the said Hay will be more or less according to the plenty of money which hath changed strangely since the discovery of the West Indies and according to the multitudes of people living near this Land together with the luxurious or frugal living of them and besides all according to the Civil Natural and Religious Opinions of the said people As for example Eggs in the fore-part of Lent because their goodness and delicacy decayes before Lent be done being worth little in some Popish Countreys nor Swines flesh among the Jews nor Hedgehogs Frogs Snails Mushrooms c. to those that fear to eat them as poisonous or unwholesome nor Currans and Spanish Wines if they were all to be destroyed as the great thieves of this Nation by an Edict of the State 10. This I call a Survey or Inquisition into the intrinsick Values of Land that of extrinsick or accidentall follows We said that the change of the store of money would change the rates of commodities according to our reckoning in names and words pounds shillings and pence being nothing else as for example If a man can bring to London an ounce of Silver out of the Earth in Peru in the same time that he can produce a bushel of Corn then one is the natural price of the other now if by reason of new and more easie Mines a man can get two ounces of Silver as easily as formerly he did one then Corn will be as cheap at ten shillings the bushel as it was before at five shillings caeteris paribus 11. It behoves us therefore to have a way whereby to tell the money of our Countrey which I think I have and that in a short time and without cost and which is more without looking into particular mens pockets of which hereafter Now if we know what Gold and Silver we had in England two hundred years ago and could tell it again now and though we also knew the difference of our denominations then when thirty seven shillings were made out the same quantity of Silver as sixty two are now also that of the alloy labour in Coinage remedies for weight and fineness and duties to the King nay if we also knew the Labourers wages then and now yet all this would not shew the difference of the Riches of our Nation even in money alone 12. Wherefore we must adde to the premises the knowledge of the difference of the numbers of the people and conclude that if all the money in the Nation were equally divided amongst all the people both then and now that that time wherein each Devisee had wherewith to hire most labourers was the richer So that we want the knowledge of the People and Bullion which is now in this Land and which was heretofore all which I think may be found out even for the time past but more probably for the time present and to come 13. But to proceed suppose we had them then we would pitch the accidental values upon our Lands about London as thus viz. We would first at hazzard compute the materials for food and covering which the

11. 7. Obscurities and doubts about the right of imposing hath been the cause of great and ugly Reluctancies in the people and of Involuntary Severities in the Prince an eminent Example whereof was the Ship-money no small cause of twenty years calamity to the whole Kingdom 12. 8. Fewness of people is real poverty and a Nation wherein are Eight Millions of people are more then twice as rich as the same scope of Land wherein are but Four For the same Governours which are the great charge may serve near as well for the greater as the lesser number 13. Secondly If the people be so few as that they can live Exsponte Creatis or with little labour such as is Grazing c. they become wholly without Art No man that will not exercise his hands being able to endure the tortures of the mind which much thoughtfulness doth occasion 14. 9. Scarcity of money is another cause of the bad payment of Taxes for if we consider that of all the wealth of this Nation viz. Lands Housing Shipping Commodities Furniture Plate and Money that scarce one part of an hundred is Coin and that perhaps there is scarce six millions of Pounds now in England that is but twenty shillings a head for every head in the Nation We may easily judge how difficult it is for men of competent estates to pay a Summe of money on a sudden which if they cannot compass Severities and Charges ensue and that with reason though unluckie enough it being more tolerable to undoe one particular Member then to endanger the whole notwithstanding indeed it be more tolerable for one particular Member to be undone with the whole then alone 15. 10. It seems somewhat hard that all Taxes should be paid in money that is when the King hath occasion to Victual his Ships at Portsmouth that Fat Oxen and Corn should not be received in kind but that Farmers must first carry their Corn perhaps ten Miles to sell and turn into money which being paid to the King is again reconverted into Corn fetcht many miles further 16. Moreover the Farmer for haste is forced to under-sell his Corn and the King for haste likewise is forced to over-buy his provisions Whereas the paying in kinde Pro Hic Nunc would lessen a considerable grievance to the poor people 17. The next consideration shall be of the consequences and effects of too great a Tax not in respect of particular men of which we have spoken before but to the whole people in general To which I say that there is a certain measure and proportion of money requisite to drive the trade of a Nation more or less then which would prejudice the same Just as there is a certain proportion of Farthings necessary in a small retail Trade to change silver money and to even such reckonings as cannot be adjusted with the smallest silver pieces For money made of Gold and silver is to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to the matter of our Food and Covering but as Farthings and other local extrinsick money is to the Gold and Silver species 18. Now as the proportion of the number of Farthings requisite in comerse is to be taken from the number of people the frequency of their exchanges as also and principally from the value of the smallest silver pieces of money so in like maner the proportion of money requisite to our Trade is to be likewise taken from the frequency of commutations and from the bigness of the payments that are by Law or Custome usually made otherwise From whence it follows that where there are Registers of Lands whereby the just value of each mans interest in them may be well known and where there are Depositories of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of Metals Cloth Linnen Leather and other Usefuls and where there are Banks of money also there less money is necessary to drive the Trade For if all the greatest payments be made in Lands and the other perhaps down to ten pound or twenty pound be made by credit in Lombars or Money-Banks It follows that there needs onely money to pay sums less then those aforementioned just as fewer Farthings are requisite for change where there be plenty of silver two Pences then where the least silver piece is six Pence 19. To apply all this I say that if there be too much money in a Nation it were good for the Commonalty as well as the King and no harm even to particular men if the King had in his Coffers all that is superflous no more then if men were permitted to pay their Taxes in any thing they could best spare 20. On the other side if the largeness of a publick Exhibition should leave less money then is necessary to drive the Nations Trade then the mischief thereof would be the doing of less work which is the same as lessening the people or their Art and Industry for a hundred pound passing a hundred hands for Wages causes a 10000l worth of Commodities to be produced which hands would have been idle and useless had there not been this continual motive to their employment 21. Taxes if they be presently expended upon our own Domestick Commodities seem to me to do little harm to the whole Body of the people onely they work a change in the Riches and Fortunes of particular men and particularly by transferring the same from the Landed and Lazy to the Crafty and Industrious As for example if a Gentleman have let his Lands to Farm for a hundred pound per annum for several years or lives and he be taxed twenty pound per annum to maintain a Navy then the effect hereof will be that this Gentlemans twenty pound per annum will be distributed amongst Seamen Ship-Carpenters and other Trades relating to Naval matters but if the Gentleman had his Land in his own hands then being taxed a Fifth part he would raise his Rents near the same proportion upon his under Tenants or would sell his Cattle Corn and Wooll a Fifth part dearer the like also would all other subdependents on him do and thereby recover in some measure what he paid Lastly but if all the money levied were thrown into the Sea then the ultimate effect would onely be that every man must work a fifth part the harder or retrench a fifth part of his consumptions viz. the former if forreign Trade be improveable and the latter if it be not 22. This I conceive were the worst of Taxes in a well policyed State but in other States where is not a certain prevention of Beggary and Theevery that is a sure livelihood for men wanting imployment there I confess an excessive Taxe causes excessive and insuperable want even of natural necessities and that on a sudden so as ignorant particular persons cannot finde out what way to subsist by and this by the law of Nature must cause sudden effects to relieve it self that is Rapines Frauds and this again must

the Rascality or in process of time return to waste and Gardens again examples whereof are many even about London Now if great Cities are naturally apt to remove their Seats I ask which way I say in the case of London it must be Westward because the Windes blowing near ¾ of the year from the West the dwellings of the West end are so much the more free from the fumes steams and stinks of the whole Easterly Pyle which where Seacoal is burnt is a great matter Now if it follow from hence that the Pallaces of the greatest men will remove Westward it will also naturally follow that the dwellings of others who depend upon them will creep after them This we see in London where the Noblemens ancient houses are now become Halls for Companies or turned into Tenements and all the Pallaces are gotten Westward Insomuch as I do not doubt but that five hundred years hence the Kings Pallace will be near Chelsey and the old building of Whitehall converted to uses more answerable to their quality For to build a new Royal Pallace upon the same ground will be too great a confinement in respect of Gardens and other magnificencies and withall a disaccommodation in the time of the work but it rather seems to me that the next Palace will be built from the whole present contignation of houses at such a distance as the old Pallace of Westminster was from the City of London when the Archers began to bend their bowes just without Ludgate and when all the space between the Thames Fleet-street and Holborn was as Finsbury-Fields are now 10. This digression I confess to be both impertinent to the business of Taxes and in it self almost needless for why should we trouble our selves what shall be five hundred years hence not knowing what a day may bring forth and since 't is not unlikely but that before that time we may be all transplanted from hence into America these Countreys being over-run with Turks and made waste as the Seats of the famous Eastern Empires at this day are 11. Onely I think 't is certain that while ever there are people in England the greatest cohabitation of them will be about the place which is now London the Thames being the most commodious River of this Island and the seat of London the most commodious part of the Thames so much doth the means of facilitating Carriage greaten a City which may put us in minde of employing our idle hands about mending the High-wayes making Bridges Cawseys and Rivers navigable Which considerations brings me back round into my way of Taxes from whence I digrest 12. But before we talk too much of Rents we should endeavour to explain the mysterious nature of them with reference as well to Money the rent of which we call usury as to that of Lands and Houses aforementioned 13. Suppose a man could with his own hands plant a certain scope of Land with Corn that is could Digg or Plough Harrow Weed Reap Carry home Thresh and Winnow so much as the Husbandry of this Land requires and had withal Seed wherewith to sowe the same I say that when this man hath subducted his seed out of the proceed of his Harvest and also what himself hath both eaten and given to others in exchange for Clothes and other Natural necessaries that the remainder of Corn is the natural and true Rent of the Land for that year and the medium of seven years or rather of so many years as makes up the Cycle within which Dearths and Plenties make their revolution doth give the ordinary Rent of the Land in Corn. 14. But a further though collaterall question may be how much English money this Corn or Rent is worth I answer so much as the money which another single man can save within the same time over and above his expence if he imployed himself wholly to produce and make it viz. Let another man go travel into a Countrey where is Silver there Dig it Refine it bring it to the same place where the other man planted his Corn Coyne it c. the same person all the while of his working for Silver gathering also food for his necessary livelihood and procuring himself covering c. I say the Silver of the one must be esteemed of equal value with the Corn of the other the one being perhaps twenty Ounces and the other twenty Bushels From whence it follows that the price of a Bushel of this Corn to be an Ounce of Silver 15. And forasmuch as possibly there may be more Art and Hazzard in working about the Silver then about the Corn yet all comes to the same pass for let a hundred men work ten years upon Corn and the same number of men the same time upon Silver I say that the neat proceed of the Silver is the price of the whole neat proceed of the Corn and like parts of the one the price of like parts of the other Although not so many of those who wrought in Silver learned the Art of refining and coining or out-lived the dangers and diseases of working in the Mines And this also is the way of pitching the true proportion between the values of Gold and Silver which many times is set but by popular errour sometimes more sometimes less diffused in the world which errour by the way is the cause of our having been pestred with too much Gold heretofore and wanting it now 16. This I say to be the foundation of equallizing and ballancing of values yet in the superstructures and practices hereupon I confess there is much variety and intricacy of which hereafter 17. The world measures things by Gold and Silver but principally the latter for there may not be two measures and consequently the better of many must be the onely of all that is by fine silver of a certain weight but now if it be hard to measure the weight and fineness of silver as by the different reports of the ablest Saymasters I have known it to be and if silver granted to be of the same fineness and weight rise and fall in its price and be more worth at one place then another not onely for being farther from the Mines but for other accidents and may be more worth at present then a moneth or other small time hence and if it differ in its proportion unto the several things valued by it in several ages upon the increase and diminution thereof we shall endeavour to examine some other natural Standards and Measures without derogating from the excellent use of these 18. Our Silver and Gold we call by severall names as in England by pounds shillings and pence all which may be called and understood by either of the three But that which I would say upon this matter is that all things ought to be valued by two natural Denominations which is Land and Labour that is we ought to say a Ship or garment is worth such a measure of

Land with such another measure of Labour forasmuch as both Ships and Garments were the creatures of Lands and mens Labours thereupon This being true we should be glad to finde out a natural Par between Land and Labour so as we might express the value by either of them alone as well or better then by both and reduce one into the other as easily and certainly as we reduce pence into pounds Wherefore we would be glad to finde the natural values of the Fee simple of Land though but no better then we have done that of the usus fructus abovementioned which we attempt as followeth 19. Having found the Rent or value of the usus fructus per annum the question is how many years purchase as we usually say is the Fee simple naturally worth If we say an infinite number then an Acre of Land would be equal in value to a thousand Acres of the same Land which is absurd an infinity of unites being equal to an infinity of thousands Wherefore we must pitch upon some limited number and that I apprehend to be the number of years which I conceive one man of fifty years old another of twenty eight and another of seven years old all being alive together may be thought to live that is to say of a Grandfather Father and Childe few men having reason to take care of more remote Posterity for if a man be a great Grandfather he himself is so much the nearer his end so as there are but three in a continual line of descent usually co-existing together and as some are Grandfathers at forty years yet as many are not till above sixty and sic de caeteris 20. Wherefore I pitch the number of years purchase that any Land is naturally worth to be the ordinary extent of three such persons their lives Now in England we esteem three lives equal to one and twenty years and consequently the value of Land to be about the same number of years purchase Possibly if they thought themselves mistaken in the one as the observator on the Bills of Mortality thinks they are they would alter in the other unless the consideration of the force of popular errour and dependance of things already concatenated did hinder them 21. This I esteem to be the number of years purchase where Titles are good and where there is a moral certainty of enjoying the purchase But in other Countreys Lands are worth nearer thirty years purchase by reason of the better Titles more people and perhaps truer opinion of the value and duration of three lives 22. And in some places Lands are worth yet more years purchase by reason of some special honour pleasures priviledge or jurisdiction annexed unto them 23. On the other hand Lands are worth fewer years purchase as in Ireland for the following reasons which I have here set down as unto the like whereof the cause of the like cheapness in any other place may be imputed First In Ireland by reason of the frequent Rebellions in which if you are conquered all is lost or if you conquer yet you are subject to swarms of thieves and robbers and the envy which precedent missions of English have against the subsequent perpetuity it self is but forty years long as within which time some ugly disturbance hath hitherto happened almost ever since the first coming of the English thither 24. 2. The Claims upon Claims which each hath to the others Estates and the facility of making good any pretence whatsoever by the favour of some one or other of the many Governours and Ministers which within forty years shall be in power there as also by the frequency of false testimonies and abuse of solemn Oaths 25. 3. The paucity of Inhabitants there being not above the â…• th part so many as the Territory would maintain and of those but a small part do work at all and yet a smaller work so much as in other Countreys 26. 4. That a great part of the Estates both real and personal in Ireland are owned by Absentees and such as draw over the profits raised out of Ireland refunding nothing so as Ireland exporting more then it imports doth yet grow poorer to a paradox 27. 5. The difficulty of executing justice so many of those in power being themselves protected by Offices and protecting others Moreover the number of criminous and indebted persons being great they favour their like in Juries Offices and wheresoever they can Besides the Countrey is seldom enough to give due encouragement to profound Judges and Lawyers which makes judgements very casual ignorant men being more apt to be bold and arbitrary then such as understand the dangers of it But all this with a little care in due season might remedy so as to bring Ireland in a few years to the same level of values with other places but of this also elsewhere more at large for in the next place we shall come to Usury CHAP. V. Of Usury WHat reason there is for taking or giving Interest or Usury for any thing which we may certainly have again whensoever we call for it I see not nor why Usury should be scrupled where money or other necessaries valued by it is lent to be paid at such a time and place as the Borrower chuseth so as the Lender cannot have his money paid him back where and when himself pleaseth I also see not Wherefore when a man giveth out his money upon condition that he may not demand it back until a certain time to come whatsoever his own necessities shall be in the mean time he certainly may take a compensation for this inconvenience which he admits against himself And this allowance is that we commonly call Usury 2. And when one man furnisheth another with money at some distant place and engages under great Penalties to pay him there and at a certain day besides the consideration for this is that we call Exchange or local Usury As for example if a man wanting money at Carlisle in the heat of the late Civil Wars when the way was full of Souldiers and Robbers and the passage by Sea very long troublesome and dangerous and seldom passed why might not another take much more then an 100l at London for warranting the like summe to be paid at Carlisle on a certain day 3. Now the Questions arising hence are what are the natural Standards of Usury and Exchange As for Usury the least that can be is the Rent of so much Land as the money lent will buy where the security is undoubted but where the security is casual then a kinde of ensurance must be enterwoven with the simple natural Interest which may advance the Usury very conscionably unto any height below the Principal itself Now if things are so in England that really there is no such security as abovementioned but that all are more or less hazardous troublesome or chargeable to make I see no reason for endeavoring to limit Usury upon time any more

in effect but at half the usual rate which unto them that want such commodities will as well yield the full so that abating our prices will as well allure strangers to buy extraordinary proportions of our Commodities as raising their money will do But neither that nor abating the price will make strangers use more of our Commodities then they want for although the first year they should carry away an unuseful and superfluous proportion yet afterwards they would take so much the less 14. If this be true as in substance it is why then have so many wise States in several ancient as well as modern times frequently practised this Artifice as a means to draw in money into their respective Dominions I answer that something is to be attributed to the stupidity and ignorance of the people who cannot of a sudden understand this matter for I finde many men wise enough who though they be well informed that raising of money signifies little yet cannot suddenly digest it As for example an unengaged person who had money in his purse in England and should hear that a shilling was made fourteen pence in Ireland would more readily run thither to buy Land then before not suddenly apprehending that for the same Land which he might have bought before for six years Purchase he shall now pay seven Nor will Sellers in Ireland of a sudden apprehend cause to raise their Land proportionally but will at least be contented to compound the business viz. to sell at six and an half and if the difference be a more ragged fraction men under a long time will not apprehend it nor ever be able exactly to govern their practice according to it 15. Secondly Although I apprehend little real difference between raising Forreign Money to double and abasing half in the price of our own Commodities yet to sell them on on a tacite condition to be paid in Forreign present Money shall increase our money forasmuch as between raising the money and abasing the price is the same difference as between selling for money and in barter which latter is the dearer or between selling for present money and for time barter resolving into the nature of uncertain time 16. I say suppose English Cloth were sold at six shillings a Yard and French Canvas at eighteen pence the Ell the question is whether it were all one in order to increase Money in England to raise the French Money double or to abate half of the price of our Cloth I think the former because that former way or proposition carries with it a condition of having Forreign Money in specie and not Canvas in barter between which two wayes the world generally agrees there is a difference Wherefore if we can afford to abate half our price but will not do it but for our neighbours money then we gain so much as the said difference between Money and Barter amounts unto by such raising of our Neighbours Money 17. But the fundamental solution of this Question depends upon a real and not an imaginary way of computing the prices of Commodities in order to which real way I premise these suppositions First then suppose there be in a Territory a thousand people let these people be supposed sufficient to Till this whole Territory as to the Husbandry of Corn which we will suppose to contain all necessaries for life as in the Lords Prayer we suppose the word Bread doth and let the production of a Bushel of this Corn be supposed of equal labour to that of producing an ounce of Silver Suppose again that a tenth part of this Land and tenth of the people viz. an hundred of them can produce Corn enough for the whole suppose that the Rent of Land found out as above-mentioned be a fourth part of the whole product about which proportion it really is as we may perceive by paying a fourth Sheaf instead of Rent in some places suppose also that whereas but an hundred are necessary for this Husbandry yet that two hundred have taken up the Trade and suppose that where a Bushel of Corn would suffice yet men out of delicacy will use two making use of the Flower onely of both Now the Inferences from hence are First That the goodness or badness or the value of Land depends upon the greater or lesser share of the product given for it in proportion to the simple labour bestowed to raise the said Product Secondly That the proportions between Corn and Silver signific onely an artificial value not a natural because the comparison is between a thing naturally useful and a thing in it self unnecessary which by the way is part of the reason why there are not so great changes and leaps in the pro●●ed of Silver as of other Commodities Thirdly That natural dearness and cheapness depends upon the few or more hands requisite to necessaries of Nature As Corn is cheaper where one man produces Corn for ten then where he can do the like but for six and withall according as the Climate disposes men to a necessity of spending more or less But Political Cheapness depends upon the paucity of Supernumerary Interlopers into any Trade over and above all that are necessary viz. Corn will be twice as dear where are two hundred Husbandmen to do the same work which an hundred could perform the proportion thereof being compounded with the proportion of superfluous Expence viz. if to the cause of dearness abovementioned be added to the double Expence to what is necessary then the natural price will appear quadrupled and this quadruple Price is the true Political Price computed upon naturall grounds And this again proportioned to the common artificiall Standard Silver gives what was sought that is the true Price Currant 18. But forasmuch as almost all Commodities have their Substitutes or Succedanea and that almost all uses may be answered several wayes and for that novelty surprize example of Superiours and opinion of unexaminable effects do adde or take away from the price of things we must adde these contingent Causes to the permanent Causes abovementioned in the judicious foresight and computation whereof lies the excellency of a Merchant Now to apply this Digression I say that to encrease Money it is as well necessary to know how to abate the raise the price of Commodities and that of Money which was the scope of the said Digression 19. To conclude this whole Chapter we say that raising or embasing of Moneys is a very pittiful and unequal way of Taxing the people and 't is a sign that the State sinketh which catcheth hold on such Weeds as are accompanied with the dishonour of impressing a Princes Effigies to justifie Adulterate Commodities and the breach of Publick Faith such as is the calling a thing what it really is not CHAP. XV. Of Excize IT is generally allowed by all that men should contribute to the Publick Charge but according to the share and interest they have in the Publick Peace that