siderable.

Nor is it enough to say, that people must and will have goods, and that
the consumption is the same; it is evident that consumption is not the
same; and in those nations where they give no credit, or not so much as
here, the trade is small in proportion, as I shall show in its place.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] [The amount of trade produced by the British colonies is still
great; but it has been ascertained that it is not profitable to the
nation at large, as much more is paid from the public purse for the
military protection required by the colonies, than returns to
individuals through the medium of business.]

[39] [The cotton manufacture has now the prominence which, in Defoe's
time, was due to those of wool and silk.]

[40] [It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, that the canal
navigation of England has come into existence since the date of this
work--the railway communication is but of yesterday.]

[41] [Since Defoe's time, little alteration has taken place in the
locality of a number of manufactures in England; but, in the interval,
an entire change has been effected in Scotland, which now possesses
various manufactures of importance in the commercial economy of the
nation. We need only allude to the cambrics, gauzes, and silks of
Paisley; the cottons and other goods of Glasgow; the plaidings of
Stirlingshire; the stockings of Hawick; the printing-paper of
Mid-Lothian; the carpets and bonnets of Kilmarnock; the iron of Muirkirk
and Carron; the linens of Fife and Dundee; and the shawls of Edinburgh.]

CHAPTER XXIV

OF CREDIT IN TRADE, AND HOW A TRADESMAN OUGHT TO VALUE AND IMPROVE IT:
HOW EASILY LOST, AND HOW HARD IT IS TO BE RECOVERED

Credit is, or ought to be, the tradesman's _mistress_; but I must tell
him too, he must not think of ever casting her off, for if once he loses
her, she hardly ever returns; and yet she has one quality, in which she
differs from most of the ladies who go by that name--if you court her,
she is gone; if you manage so wisely as to make her believe you really
do not want her, she follows and courts you. But, by the way, no
tradesman can be in so good circumstances as to say he does not want,
that is, does not stand in need of credit.

Credit, next to real stock, is the foundation, the life and soul, of
business in a private tradesman; it is his prosperity; it is his support
in the substance of his whole trade; even in public matters, it is the
strengh and f