offers. And in this they differ from the merchants of other
countries, that they know when they have enough, for they retire to
their estates, and enjoy the fruits of their labours in the decline
of life, reserving only business enough to divert their leisure
hours. They become gentlemen and magistrates in the counties where
their estates lie, and as they are frequently the younger brothers
of good families, it is not uncommon to see them purchase those
estates that the eldest branches of their respective families have
been obliged to part with.

Their character is that they are neither so much in haste as the
French to grow rich, nor so niggardly as the Dutch to save; that
their houses are richly furnished, and their tables well served.
You are neither soothed nor soured by the merchants of London; they
seldom ask too much, and foreigners buy of them as cheap as others.
They are punctual in their payments, generous and charitable, very
obliging, and not too ceremonious; easy of access, ready to
communicate their knowledge of the respective countries they traffic
with, and the condition of their trade.

As to their way of life, they usually rise some hours before the
gentlemen at the other end of the town, and having paid their
devotions to Heaven, seldom fail in a morning of surveying the
condition of their accounts, and giving their orders to their
bookkeepers and agents for the management of their respective
trades; after which, being dressed in a modest garb, without any
footmen or attendants, they go about their business to the Custom
House, Bank, Exchange, &c., and after dinner sometimes apply
themselves to business again; but the morning is much the busiest
part of the day. In the evening of every other day the post comes