and the like: here they are under no necessity of running deep into debt, but may buy sparingly, and recruit again as they sell off.

Some tradesmen are fond of seeing their shops well stocked, and their warehouses full of goods; this is a snare to them, and brings them to buy in more goods than they want. It is a foolish as well as a fatal error, whether it lies in their judgment or their vanity; for, except in retailers' shops, and that in some trades where they must have a great choice of goods or else may want a trade, a wellexperienced tradesman had rather see his warehouse too empty than too full; if it be too empty he can fill it when he pleases, if his credit be good, or his cash strong; but a thronged warehouse is a sign of the want of customers, and of a bad market, whereas an empty warehouse is a sign of a quick demand. A few goods, and a quick sale, is the beauty of a tradesman's warehouse, or his shop either; and it is his wisdom to keep himself in that posture, that his payments may come in on his front as fast as they go out in his rear; that he may be able to answer the demands of his merchants or dealers, and, if possible, suffer no man to come twice for his money.

The reason of this is plain, and leads me back to where I began. Credit is stock; and if well supported is as good as a stock, and will be as durable. A tradesman whose credit is good shall in many cases buy his goods as cheap at three or four months time of payment, as another man shall with ready money, and in goods which are ordinarily sold for time, as all our manufactures, the bay-trade excepted, generally are.

He then that keeps his credit unshaken, has a double stock; I mean, it is an addition to his real stock, and often superior to it. Nay, I have known

several considerable tradesmen in this city, who have traded with great success, and to a very considerable degree, and yet have had at bottom hardly any real stock; but by the strength of their reputation, being sober and diligent, and having with care preserved the character of honest men, and the credit of their business by cautious dealing and punctual payments, they have gone on till the gain of their trade has effectually established them, and they have raised estates out of nothing.

But to return to the dark side, viz., over-trading; the second danger is, the giving too much credit. He that takes credit may give credit, but he must be exceeding watchful; for it is the most dangerous state of life that a tradesman can live in; he is in as much jeopardy as a seaman upon a lee-shore.

If the people he trusts fail, or fail but of a punctual compliance with him, he can never support his own credit, unless by the caution I am now giving; that is, to be very sure not to give so much credit as he takes; that is to say, either he must sell for shorter time than he takes, or in less quantity; the last is the safest, namely, that he should be sure not to trust out so much as he is trusted with. If he has a real stock indeed, besides the credit he takes, that makes the case differ; and a man that can pay his own debts, whether other people pay him or no, is out of the past danger, and cannot be hurt; beyond the extent of his stock and may be overthrown too.

question, he is but if he trust credit, even he

There were many sad examples of this in the time of the late war, and in the days when the public credit was in a more precarious condition than it has been since. Then it often happened that tradesmen who had good estates at bottom, and were in full credit, trusted the public with great

sums, which not coming in at the time expected, either by the deficiency of the funds given by parliament, and the parliament themselves not soon making good those deficiencies, or by other disasters, their credit was wounded, and some were quite undone, who yet, had they been paid, could have paid all their own debts, and had good sums of money left.

Others were obliged to sell their tallies and orders at forty or fifty per cent. loss; from whence proceeded that black trade of buying and selling navy and victualling-bills, and transport-debts, by which the brokers and usurers got estates, and many thousands of tradesmen were brought to nothing; even those who stood it lost great sums of money by selling their tallies; but credit cannot be bought too dear, and the throwing away one half to save the other, was much better than sinking under the burden; like a sailor in a storm, who, to lighten the ship wallowing in the trough of the sea, will throw the choicest goods overboard, even to half the cargo, in order to keep the ship above water and save the

rest.

These were terrible examples of over-trading indeed; men were tempted by the high price which the government were obliged to give, because of the badness of the public credit at that time; but this was not sufficient to make good the loss sustained in the sale of the tallies; so that even they that sold, and were able to stand without ruin, were very great sufferers, and had enough to do to keep up their credit.

This was the effect of giving overmuch credit; for though it was the government itself which they trusted, yet neither could the government itself keep up the sinking credit of those to whom it was indebted; and, indeed, how should it, when it was not

able to support its own? But I return to the tradesman, whom we are now speaking about.

young

It is his greatest prudence therefore, after he has considered his own fund, and the stock he has to rest upon, to take care of his credit; and, next to limiting his buying, let him be sure to limit his selling. Could the tradesman buy all upon credit, and sell all for ready money, he might turn usurer, and put his own stock out to interest, or buy land with it, for he would have no occasion for one shilling of it; but since that is not expected, nor can be done, it is his business to act with prudence in both parts; I mean, of taking and giving credit; and the best rule to be given him for it, is never to give so much credit as he takes, by at least one-third part.

By giving credit, I do not mean, that even all the goods which he buys upon credit may not be sold upon credit; perhaps they are goods which are usually sold so, and no otherwise; but the alternative is before him thus; either he must not give so much credit in quantity of goods, or not so long credit in relation to time. For example:

Suppose the young tradesman buys 10,000l. value of goods on credit, and this 10,000l. are sold for 11,0007. likewise on credit; if the time given be the same, the man is in a state of apparent destruction, and it is a hundred to one but he is blown up; perhaps he owes the 10,000l. to twenty men; perhaps the 11,000l. is owing to him by two hundred men ; it is scarce possible that these two hundred petty customers of his should all so punctually comply with their payments as to enable him to comply with his; and if two or 30007. fall short, the poor tradesman, unless he has a fund to support the deficiency, must be undone.

But if the man had bought 10,000l. at six or eight months' credit, and had sold them all again, as above,

to his two hundred customers, at three months and four months' credit, then it might be supposed all, or the greatest part of them, would have paid time enough to make his payments good; if not, all would be lost still.

But, on the other hand, suppose he had sold but 30007. worth of the ten for ready money, and had sold the rest for six months' credit; it might be supposed that the 30007. in cash, and what else the two hundred debtors might pay in time, might stop the mouths of the tradesman's creditors, till the difference might be made good.

So easy a thing is it for a tradesman to lose his credit in trade, and so hard is it once, upon such a blow, to retrieve it again. What need then is there for the tradesman to guard himself against running too far into debt, or letting other people run too far into debt to him; for if they do not pay him, he cannot pay others, and the next thing is a commission of bankrupt; and so the tradesman may be undone, though he has 11,000l. to pay ten with.

It is true it is not possible, in a country where there is such an infinite extent of trade as in this kingdom, that either on the one hand or the other it can be carried on without a reciprocal credit; but it is so nice an article, that I am of opinion, as many tradesmen break with giving too much credit, as with taking it; the danger indeed is mutual, and very great; whatever then the young tradesman omits, let him guard against both.

But there are divers ways of over-trading, besides this of taking and giving too much credit; and one of these is, the running into projects, and heavy undertakings, either out of the common road which the tradesman is already engaged in, or grasping at too many undertakings at once, and having, as it is vulgarly expressed, too many irons in the