No. 59. MERCHANTS. Merchants are perfons who traffic to foreign countries; and there are not, as Mr. Addison juftly remarks, more useful members in a commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together in a mutual intercourfe of good offices, diftribute the gifts of nature, find work for the poor, augment the wealth of a nation, and increase the comforts and conveniencies of life. Our English merchant converts the tin of his own country into gold, and exchanges his wool for rubies. The Mahometans are clothed in our British manufacture, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone warmed with the fleeces of our sheep. "How fuperior, fays an ingenious writer, is fuch a man, in the eye of reafon and of heaven, to the NOBLE of a thoufand years, who has received his hereditary poffeffions without a fingle effort of his own, and enjoys them, even in the most favourable defcription, under the influence of hereditary pride, elegant paffion, or refined luxury To cenfure trade, Trade to the good phyfician gives his balms; Gives to the curious works of nature rare; DYER. Suppofe a merchant commencing bufinefs with £10,000, gains £1,099 155. 6d. in the courfe of a year, and at the expiration of that period diftributes in "meek-eyed, heaven-defcended charity" the fum of 114 16s. 4d. what is the balance remaining in hand? Anf. £10,984 19s. 2d. No. 60. POST-CHAISES. Poft-Chaifes were invented by the French, and, according to Mr. Granger, introduced into England by Mr. William Tull, fon of the well-known writer on husbandry. A fort of light, open chaife, chariot, or calafh, was, however, in ufe among the Romans, and faid to have been invented by the Emperor Auguftus, or Trajan. If a poft-chaife and pair of horfes coft £120 10s. and the latter be valued at £52 12s. what is the price of the chaife? Ans. £67 18s. SEDAN-CHAIRS. No. 61. Sedan-Chairs were first introduced in London in 1634, when Sir Sanders Duncomb obtained the fole privilege to ufe, let, and hire a number of fuch covered chairs, for fourteen years. Dr. Johnfon, in his Dictionary, conjectures, that they were originally made at Sedan, a strong city in the department of the Ardennes, and late province of Champaigne, France. The firft fedan→ chair feen in England was in the reign of James I. and was used by the the duke of Buckingham; to the great indignation of the people, who exclaimed, that he was employing his fellow-creatures to do the fervice of beafts. Suppofe an American merchant fhould remit goods to his correfpondent in London to the amount of £200, with orders for one fedan-chair at £25 10s. another at £18 18s. and a third at £42, to be fent in return, how much would remain due to the American? Ans. £113 125. MULTIPLICATION 'S a compendious kind of addition, confifting of three terms called is the number given to be multiplied; the fecond that by which the work is performed; and the third the refult of the operation. EXAMPLE S. No. 62. ANNUAL REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH. The earth on which we live is nearly of a spherical form*. This is demonftrated by its fhadow in eclipfes of the moon being bounded by a circular line; by the manner of feeing objects at a diftance, their fummits being visible when their bafes are intercepted by the horizon; and, laftly, by the feveral voyages which have been made round it. A form orbicular how fit to weigh The golden gift of light and heat to all difcovered that This matter occentury, among * I have faid nearly of a spherical form, because it has been the earth, though nearly a fphere, or ball, is not perfectly fo. cafioned confiderable difputes between the philofophers of the last whom Sir Ifaac Newton and Caffini, a French aftronomer, were the heads of two different parties. Sir Ifaac demonftrated from mechanical principles, that the earth was an oblate sphere, or that it was flatted at the poles, or north and fouth points, and jutted out towards the equator. The French philofopher afferted quite the contrary. But the matter was put to a trial by the king of France in 1736, who sent out a company of mathematicians and aftronomers towards the north pole, and likewife towards the equator, in order to measure a degree, or the 360th part of a great circle in thefe different parts; and, from their report, the opinion of Sir Ifaac Newton was confirmed beyond difpute. Ꮐ Falmy Balmy refiners of the winnow'd air, BALLEY. The earth has two motions; one round its own axis, which is performed in twenty-four hours: the other round the fun, which it accomplishes in a year. Aftronomers affert, that, in the last-mentioned courfe, it moves with the velocity of 68,000 miles an hour. How many miles, according to this calculation, does it travel in its annual revolution, admitting the year to contain 8,766 hours? 596,088,000 miles!! Anf. No. 63. COACHES. Coaches, as well as almost all other kinds of carriages which have been fince made in imitation of them, were invented by the French, and the use of them is of modern date. Under Francis I. who was contemporary with our Henry VIII. there were only two coaches; that of the queen, and that of Diana, natural daughter of Henry II. The kings of France before they used these machines, travelled on horfeback; the princeffes were carried in litters, and ladies rode behind their fquires. Till about the middle of the last century there were but few coaches in Paris; but prior to the late revolution in that capital, they were estimated at 15,000, exclufive of hackney-coaches, and thofe let out for hire. The introduction of coaches into England is afcribed by Mr. Anderson, in his History of Commerce, to Fitz-Allen, earl of Arundel, in the year 1580; and about the year 1605, they were in general ufe among the nobility and gentry in London. In the beginning of the year 1619, the earl of Northumberland, who had been imprifoned ever fince the Gunpowder-Plot, obtained his liberation. Hearing that Buckingham, was drawn about with fix horfes in his coach (being the firft that was fo) the earl put on eight to his, and in that manner passed from the Tower through the city. Rapin, vol. viii. p. 156. Hackney-coaches, which, according to Maitland, obtained this appellation from the village of HACKNEY, firft began to ply in the ftreets of London, or rather to wait at inns, in 1625, and were then only twenty in number. So rapid, however, has been their increase fince that period, that London and Westminster now contain 1000, each of which pays to government 10s. a week. Suppofing each coach to earn 145. a day on an average, which is deemed a very moderate computation, the fum of £700 fterling is expended daily in the metropolis, in coach-hire, exclufive of what is fpent in glafs-coaches, or unnumbered ones. What is the weekly, monthly, and yearly expenditure in the ufe of thefe vehicles? Ans. £4,900 per week; £19,600 per month; and £255,500 per year; reckoning 13 months 1 day to the year. MULTIPLICATION MULTIPLICATION OF MONEY, OR COMPOUND MULTIPLICATION. MULT ULTIPLICATION of money, applied to bufinefs, teaches how to find the value of any propofed number of yards, pounds, &c. at any given price per yard, per pound, &c. RULE. Multiply the price of one yard, pound, &c. by the number of yards, pounds, &c, the value of which is required in the question. EXAMPLE S. No. 64. ANCHOVIES. The anchovy is a small fea-fish, much ufed by way of fauce or feafoning. It is caught in the months of May, June, and July, in the Mediterranean, on the coafts of Catalonia in Spain, and the late province of Provence, now forming the departments of Var, the Lower Alps, and the mouths of the Rhone, in France; and particularly near the small island of Gorgona in the Tufcan fea, adjacent to Leghorn. In years of plenty. 20,000 quintals of anchovies have been exported in a year from Malaga. Mr. Townsend's Journey through Spain, vol. iii. p. 30. What is the value of two pounds of anchovies at 25. 7d. 2. per pound? Anf. 55. 3d. ž. No. 65. CAPERS. Capers are pickled and brought to England annually from Italy, and the Mediterranean; particularly from about Toulon, in the fouth of France; from whence it is faid the greatest part of the capers fold throughout Europe are brought; excepting fome fmall falt ones from Majorca, and a few flat ones from about Lyons. The plant which produces them is a low fhrub, which generally grows among rubbish, and out of the joints of old walls, and the fiffures of rocks. it Capers from the rock, that prompt the taste DYER. Lady Craven, who ftyles the caper a pretty flinking creeper, fays grows wild where it is permitted to take root: and Dr. Smollett obferves, that this plant requires no culture. In England broom-buds are frequently fubftituted for capers. Capers Capers are chiefly ufed in fauces, but fometimes in medicine, as being very aperitive, and employed in certain compofitions for diseases of the spleen. What is the value of 3 pots of capers at 3s. 4d. per pot? Anf. 10s. No.66. CAT-GUT. This is a denomination given to small strings for fiddles and other inftruments, made of the intestines of fheep or lambs dried and twifted, either fingly, or feveral together. They are ufed alfo by watch-makers, cutlers, turners, and other artificers. Great quantities are made at Lyons in France, and in Italy. What is the value of 4 rings of fiddle-ftrings at 6d. 1. each? Anf. 25. 3d. No. 67. CORK. Cork is the bark of a tree of the fame name, a fpecies of the oak. It grows in great abundance on the Pyrenean mountains and in other parts of Spain, in France, and in the north of New England. The Spaniards make what we call Spanish black, ufed by painters, of burnt cork. The Egyptians made coffins of cork, which being lined with a refinous compofition, preserved dead bodies uncorrupted. But the chief employ of cork is to put in shoes, flippers, &c. and particularly to ftop bottles. Be fure, nay very fure, thy cork be good; Then future ages fhall of Peggy tell, That nymph who brew'd and bottled ale fo well. KING. What are five grofs of corks worth, at 3s. 9d. 4. per grofs? Anf. 19s. od. 4. No. 68. CAMBLET. Camblet is a stuff fometimes made of wool, fometimes of filk, and fometimes of hair, efpecially that of goats, with wool or filk. The true or oriental camblet is fabricated from the pure hair of a fort of goat, defcribed by travellers as an extraordinary fpecies, the most beautiful in the world; their hair being of a filvery whitenefs, as fine as filk, and naturally curled in locks eight or nine inches in length. Mr. Tournefort afferts, that thefe goats are peculiar to Angora, in Turkey in Afia, and the adjacent districts; a declaration sanctioned by the concurrence of Mr. Coxe. Trav. vol. iii. p. 413. We have no camblets made in Europe of the goats hair alone; it being found necessary to add a mixture of woollen thread. England, France, Holland, and Flanders, are the chief places of this manufacture. But Bruffels exceeds them all in the beauty and quantity of its camblets; and thofe of England are reputed the fecond. Some give the name of mohair to the camblets or ftuffs made of the hair now under confideration. What is the value of 6 yards of camblet at 2s. 11d. . per yard? Auf. 175. 9d. No. 69. |