Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 2.djvu/182

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180
HISTORY OF

of copy paper) into the outports at 5s. per ream; 70 tons of Caen stones, at 15s. per ton; 1188 ells of tapestry with cadclas, at 8s. per ell; 162 ells of tapestry with silk, at 13s. 4d. per ell; 16,648 tuns of wine, at 17l. 10s. per tun; 400 mill-stones, at 10l. each; 302 pounds of coral, at 3s. 4d. per pound; 4266 pounds of garden seeds, at 8d. per pound; 268 gallons of orange-flower water, at 6s. per gallon; and 400 pounds of rose-leaves, at 1s. per pound. Among the exports to France are, 1075 dozens of old shoes, at 10s. per dozen; 3 pairs of virginals, at 5l. per pair; 49 cwt. of printed books and maps, at 20s. per cwt.; 3 pictures, at 40s. each; 49 barrels of salmon, at 4l. per barrel; 11 horses, at 10l. each; 50 cats, valued altogether at 7s. 6d.; 141 dozen dogs, at 6s. per dozen; and 561 pounds of tea, at 10s. per pound. The writer before us asserts that even in his time, besides the goods from France entered at the Custom-house, great quantities were every day clandestinely imported,[1] He states also that, notwithstanding the higher duties that had been imposed, either our luxury or our substance had so much increased, that nearly as much wine was still imported from France as in the time of James II. "And are we," he asks, less fond of clarets now than heretofore?"[2] It was also understood that, besides the quantity mentioned in the above account, the importation of French wines into Scotland amounted to three or four thousand tuns a-year.[3] Comparing the four years from 1682 to 1685 inclusive, during which French wines were excluded from this country, with the four from 1686 to 1689 inclusive, during which they were admitted, it appears that the removal of the prohibition, while it brought us an average annual importation of French wines to the amount of 13,400 tuns, reduced our average importation of Portuguese wines from about 1 1,000 to little more than 400 tuns, of Spanish from about 6700 tuns to less than 4000, and of Rhenish from above 1400 tuns to between 600 and 700. In 1685 we imported no French wines and

  1. British Merchant, i. 279.
  2. Id. p. 293.
  3. Id. p. 297.