A SHORT APPENDIX To a Late Treatise Concerning Abatement of Usury.  
By the same Author.  
LONDON,  
Printed by Tho. Leach, for Christoper Wilkinson, at the Black-Boy over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. 1668.   

A Short APPENDIX To a late TREATISE etc.  
SInce the Publishing of my late Treatise concerning Usury, I have met with some Objections, commonly urged with great vehemency, which (though in themselves frivolous enough, yet that nothing may remain unanswered) I shall briefly examine.  
1. We are all charged with ingratitude to God, and murmuring at his Goodness, in sending us such cheapness as we now enjoy; 2. The People of England in general are taxed of incorrigible sloth: 3. The Gentry in particular are branded for dissoluteness: Betwixt these three, the Usurer endeavours to shift all blame from himself, by laying it upon other Shoulders.  
For the first of these, viz. Our ingatitude to God, etc. Surely we cannot thankfully enough acknowledge God's compassion towards us, in affording us cheapness at this season, it being the only hopeful sign we have left, that, he intends not, now, our destruction; For if, to the Calamities of War, Pestilence, and Fire, His Justice had likewise added that of Extreme Dearth, how could we have supported it? Nevertheless it may concern us to inquire out the natural cause of our present cheapness; For, if upon serious scrutiny it appear, we cannot impute it to the greatness of our late Crops, but rather to the deadness of Foreign Markets, being cloyed by others who had greater Crops than we, and there o'er undersell us; We may have cause to apprehend▪ That our present cheapness is almost a certain presage of future dearth: For surely, that our Crops begin to fail, it is only because we cannot afford our Lands their ordinary improvements, Being discouraged both by unprofitable Vent, and the high rate of our stock, which likewise forces us to sell at any Price: Now the Progress of this decay will soon disable even our ordinary Tillage: And meeting with the disasters incident to Husbandry, may unawares expose us to extreme scarcity, when money, perhaps, will be as scarce as Bread.  
The Prices of Grain and Fodder, one year with another, are certainly better now, than they were thirty or forty years since; yet our Titheries, (the Model of our yearly growth) generally decline in value; And whence can this come, but from the impoverishment of our Farms and Farmours? Who, it seems are not able to Manure their Land, nor yet forbear the Market; Since neither will answer Interest, with the inconveniencies attending it, which are such; That many Farmours already can scarce afford to kill the Moles and levelly the Molehills in our best Meadows.  
For the second, viz. The incorigible sloth of our People, I should unwillingly grant, That Englishmen are not naturally more active and fit for labour than Hollanders; I suppose they have formerly given better proof of themselves in most occasions: But, alas, their encouragements are not equal; The one sure, that he works for himself, the other almost as sure, that he works for his Creditor: The Labourer in the Netherlands by steady Employment, still hoping to grow rich, however forced to work and far hard, because Provisions are always dear; In England (betwixt despair of thriving, and easiness of subsisting) for the Present Wastful, Careless of the Future.  
For the third, viz. The dissoluteness of our Gentry: Methinks, it argues small ingenuity in 〈…〉 first to oppress, and then reproach G 〈…〉 doth: Let me therefore make their Apology.  
Of Gentlemen, some have considerable Estates, others have little: For such as have little, it will not I doubt, be easy, now a days, to find any Employments, but Derogatory in Peace, or Mercenary in War.  
Object. But should they not betake themselves to one of the three faculties? Answ. 1. Their Friends, many of them are not able; 2. Themselves, some are not capable: 3. Our Professions, I fear are already full, even to overflowing: And if all must be Divines, Lawyers, or Physicians, where are the Patients, Client's, and Cures?  
Of such as have estates, some are free from Debt, others encumbered; for the latter, I dare boldly say, That in many of their extravagancies, Frailty is only accessary, Usury is the Principal.  
For the former, I would ask any sober man, How Gentlemen, not naturally studious, (as many sure are not) shall spend their time: If they fall to Husbandry, they are by many upbraided with Rusticity, by more with imprudence, And perhaps both not altogether without cause; For why should Gentlemen usurp the Farmours Calling, or hope to thrive themselves, where Tenants cannot.  
Object. But might they not turn Merchants? Answ. Alas! Therein is our chiefest Bane; Our trade is now most hazardous, and with all intricate; For our own Growth is certainly become a Drugg, and little to be gotten by the sale of it, being undersold by Three per cent; Even superfluity, though of better Vent, will ofttimes scarce answer Charges, without stealing the Duties, which are considerable in the Price: So as Gentlemen of estate being, in effect, excluded from all hope of profiting themselves by their Industry, (if they be not Bookish) sleep is, for aught I see, their cheapest Employment, and Company their manliest Diversion.  
But were our Estates by low Interest rendered improvable, to the Advantage both of ourselves and the Commonwealth, Truly, he deserved not Land, that wanted Convenient Business; Nor could he be excused from Lachesse, that found not out, at worst, a Comfortable Provision.  
Again, were Trade, by abateing the Rate of its stock, made generally gainful, it would likewise soon grow transparent, so as we needed not despair, without long Apprenticeship to comprehend it; Since, in Holland, womans, Nay Children now trade securely and profitably; And then what should hinder; but that all might be either Principals or Factors?  
Till Improving of Land be cheaper than Purchasing, Industry more beneficial than Usury: Till Merchandising cease to be Mysterious, and become familiar to us. We must never look to flourish.  
FINIS.