Summary

The novel opens with the arrival of an English cargo boat on the island of Manhattan on November 1, 1746. Richard Smith, a passenger and an Englishman, exits the boat and makes his way into the nearby town of “New-York” (1). Smith enters the office of a trading company called Lovell & Company, located on Golden Hill Street. Smith introduces himself to Mr. Lovell and explains his situation. Smith knows that Lovell pays a shipping company called Bayard and Hythe to ship goods across the Atlantic Ocean. Smith has purchased Banyard and Hythe’s bill for Lovell & Company for that year, and he wishes to redeem it with Mr. Lovell. The bill is for 1,000 English pounds, which is about 1,700 New-York pounds. Smith did this because he did not wish to transport that much money in actual currency with him across the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Lovell is suspicious of...