of things. We know of nothing, either in the natural or moral world,
that continues in the same state: From a number of instances that might
be adduced, permit me to name one--that of money. This, considered in
the abstract, is of little or no value; but, by the common consent of
mankind, is erected into a general arbitrator, to fix a value upon all
others: a medium through which every thing passes: a balance by which
they must be weighed: a touchstone to which they must be applied to find
their worth: though we can neither eat nor drink it, we can neither eat
nor drink without it.--He that has none best knows its use.

It has long been a complaint, that the same quantity of that medium,
money, will not produce so much of the necessaries of life, particularly
food, as heretofore; or, in other words, that provisions have been
gradually rising for many ages, and that the milling, which formerly
supported the laborious family a whole week, will not now support it
one day.

In times of remarkable scarcity, such as those in 1728, 41, 56, 66, and
74, the press abounded with publications on the subject; but none, which
I have seen, reached the question, though short.

It is of no consequence, whether a bushel of corn sells for six _pence_,
or six _shillings_, but, what _time_ a man must labour before he
can earn one?

If, by the moderate labour of thirty-six hours, in the reign of Henry
the Third, he could acquire a groat, which would purchase a bushel of
wheat; and if, in the reign of George the Third, he works the same
number of hours for eight shillings, which will make the same purchase,
the balance is exactly even. If, by our commercial concerns with the