while to consider, whether so many Artificers at work ten Days together by my Appointment, or so many Peasants made merry on Sir ROGER’S Charge, are the Men more obliged?  I believe the Families of the Artificers will thank me, more than the Households of the Peasants shall Sir ROGER.  Sir ROGER gives to his Men, but I place mine above the Necessity or Obligation of my Bounty.  I am in very little Pain for the Roman Proverb upon the Carthaginian Traders; the Romans were their professed Enemies:  I am only sorry no Carthaginian Histories have come to our Hands; we might have been taught perhaps by them some Proverbs against the Roman Generosity, in fighting for and bestowing other People’s Goods.  But since Sir ROGER has taken Occasion from an old Proverb to be out of Humour with Merchants, it should be no Offence to offer one not quite so old in their Defence.  When a Man happens to break in Holland, they say of him that he has not kept true Accounts.  This Phrase, perhaps, among us, would appear a soft or humorous way of speaking, but with that exact Nation it bears the highest Reproach; for a Man to be Mistaken in the Calculation of his Expence, in his Ability to answer future Demands, or to be impertinently sanguine in putting his Credit to too great Adventure, are all Instances of as much Infamy as with gayer Nations to be failing in Courage or common Honesty.

Numbers are so much the Measure of every thing that is valuable, that it is not possible to demonstrate the Success of any Action, or the Prudence of any Undertaking, without them.  I say this in Answer to what Sir ROGER is pleased to say, That little that is truly noble can be expected from one who is ever poring on his Cashbook, or ballancing his Accounts.  When I have my Returns from abroad, I can tell to a Shilling, by the Help of Numbers, the Profit or Loss by my Adventure; but I ought also to be able to shew that I had Reason for making it, either from my own Experience or that of other People, or from a reasonable Presumption that my Returns will be sufficient to answer my Expence and Hazard; and this is never to be done without the Skill of Numbers.  For Instance, if I am to trade to Turkey, I ought beforehand to know the Demand of our Manufactures there, as well as of their Silks in England, and the customary Prices that are given for both in each Country.  I ought to have a clear Knowledge of these Matters beforehand, that I may presume upon sufficient Returns to answer the Charge of the Cargo I have fitted out, the Freight and Assurance out and home, the Custom to the Queen, and the Interest of my own Money, and besides all these Expences a reasonable Profit to my self.  Now what is there of Scandal in this Skill?  What has the Merchant done, that he should be so little in the good Graces of Sir ROGER?  He throws down no Man’s Enclosures, and tramples upon no Man’s Corn; he takes nothing from the industrious Labourer; he pays the poor Man for his