as other people; nor is a trading man, if he is a man of sense,
unsuitable or unprofitable for a gentleman to converse with, as occasion
requires; and you will often find, that not private gentlemen only, but
even ministers of state, privy-councillors, members of parliament, and
persons of all ranks in the government, find it for their purpose to
converse with tradesmen, and are not ashamed to acknowledge, that a
tradesman is sometimes qualified to inform them in the most difficult
and intricate, as well as the most urgent, affairs of government; and
this has been the reason why so many tradesmen have been advanced to
honours and dignities above their ordinary rank, as Sir Charles
Duncombe, a goldsmith; Sir Henry Furnese, who was originally a retail
hosier; Sir Charles Cook, late one of the board of trade, a merchant;
Sir Josiah Child, originally a very mean tradesman; the late Mr Lowndes,
bred a scrivener; and many others, too many to name.

But these are instances of men called out of their lower sphere for
their eminent usefulness, and their known capacities, being first known
to be diligent and industrious men in their private and lower spheres;
such advancements make good the words of the wise man--'Seest thou a man
diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand
before mean men.[11]

In the mean time, the tradesman's proper business is in his shop or
warehouse, and among his own class or rank of people; there he sees how
other men go on, and there he learns how to go on himself; there he sees
how other men thrive, and learns to thrive himself; there he hears all
the trading news--as for state news and politics, it is none of his
business; there he learns how to buy, and there he gets oftentimes
opportunities to sell; there he hears of all the disasters in trade, who
breaks, and why; what brought such and such a man to misfortunes and