conversant in Trade, informs me, that the Foreigners, who have Original
Stocks to a very great Value, have already sent Commissions to have it all
sold, when it comes to this extravagant Price. By this Means, they will
have Opportunities of draining the Nation of its current Coin. I suppose,
it will be answer'd, that the _Exportation_ of _Coin_ is provided against
by _Statutes_; it is granted; and so is the Exportation of _Wooll_: Yet we
are all sensible, the Law is transgress'd every Day in this Point: And it
must be allowed, that Money may be as easily _smuggled_ as any Commodity
whatsoever. The Consequence of this will be, that a Circulation of _Paper_
must be set on Foot to supply the Want of _ready Money_: And then, as I
have read in a very witty Author, _a_ Crown-Piece _will be shewn about as
an_ Elephant, _and_ Guineas _will be stiled of_ Blessed Memory.

Without being deeply learned in Trade, this appears to me a natural
Consequence: Yet, notwithstanding all that can be said, I find the giddy
Multitude resolute to forsake the profitable Paths of Industry, to grasp
only at _Bubbles_ and _Shadows_. This calls to my Mind the Fable of
_Jupiter_ and the _Old Woman_. The indulgent God gave the Woman a _Hen_,
which laid a _Golden Egg_ every Day: She, not content with this slow Way of
growing rich, and being curs'd with a foolish Avarice, thought a Mine of
Golden Eggs must be lodged in the Hen's Belly: But, killing the Bird, she
found only common Entrails, and lost at once the _expected Treasure_, and
the Advantage which she reaped before, by its laying every Day.

But it is Time to have done with these Discourses; the World is obstinate
in the Pursuit of Follies, and not to be reclaimed either by the Authority
of Parliaments, or good Sense: It is not so much the Consideration of this,
as the Season being so far advanced, which now induces me to lay down my
Pen. My Thoughts and Desires, I must own, are turn'd to Solitude and rural
Pleasures. The Man, who desires to have his Body in Health, should rise