commodities, and at first incorporated this
information with his Essays; but in the second
volume he separated these materials, and gave
one pennyworth of Essays, and two-pennyworth
of statistics monthly.

When his work assumed its folio dress,
four years after William of Orange became
king, John Houghton asked earnestly for
letters and communication from all parts of
the kingdom, that he might render his
publication as useful as possible. Seldom did a
man propose more to himself than Houghton
then proposed. "It is intended to stop the
mouth of the tenant that causelessly
complains; and to open the eyes and heart of the
over-hard landlord, when the tenant justly
does so. To inform the corn-merchant, meal-
man, baker, brewer, feeders of cattle, &c.,
when 'tis best to buy; and the farmer or
maltster when best to sell. To teach a rule
of selling beasts in one county, according to
the price of hay in all the rest. To inform,
not only those who live in port, but such who
live at a distance, the best time of laying in
their coals. To do the like for hop-merchants,
soap-boilers, tallow-chandlers, wool-merchants,
and their customers." But this was
only a small part of his plan. His weekly
sheet was to give the prices of all the chief
commodities at the principal towns: the
prices of such stocks and shares as were at
that time in existence; the chief results in
the London Bills of Mortality, for the
information of physicians and surgeons; the
departures and arrivals of shipping in the
Thames; the values and quantities of goods
imported and exported; the chief known
facts concerning the trade and commercial
progress of other countries; the chief varieties
of weights and measures used in different
countries. All these multifarious details
were superadded to the letters and essays
concerning the raw materials of industry,
the principal trades and processes, the
operations for draining and flooding, the
making and repairing of roads, the
construction of bridges and fountains, and,
"in short," as Houghton expresses it, "all
useful things fit for the understanding of
a plain man."

Not only was Houghton's folio, during the
ten years of its existence, a newspaper and
much besides; but he anticipated an institution
which is of great importance in these
our modern days—the commercial newsroom.
He announced that he would collect
into large books, and orderly arrange, the
whole of the information which he gradually
accumulated on all the above endless topics,
much more in quantity than could be inserted
in the weekly folio sheet; and that those
great books would be open for reference at his
own house, aided by his own personal assistance,
to those who might be in search of
information. This news-room and library of
reference appears to have been in Bartholomew
Lane behind the Royal Exchange, from
whence Houghton afterwards removed to the
"Golden Fleece at the corner of Eastcheap
and Gracechurch Street."

The opinions often expressed by John
Houghton and his correspondents on subjects
which would now be called Political Economy
were exceedingly curious: opinions, some of
which have since been dethroned, while others
still occupy the battle-field of antagonistic
writers and statesmen. In one of his Essays
he lays down that proposition that dearness
of provisions is a thing to be wished for, as
an advantage to the nation. He finds links
of a chain—dearness, industry, plenty, laziness,
and scarcity—leading again to dearness
as a re-commencement of the chain; and so
on in a recurring series. Taking plenty
instead of dearness as the commencement of the
chain, he argues thus—"When a man has
plenty, he becomes lazy: he does not work
so hard as before. He says, 'Soul, take thy
rest!' When the makers of silk stockings
have a great price for their work, they have
been observed seldom to work on Mondays
and Tuesdays, but to spend most of that time
at the ale-house and nine-pins. The weavers
it is common with them to be drunk on Monday,
to have their heads ache on Tuesday, and
their tools out of order on Wednesday. As
for the shoemakers, they will rather be
hanged than not remember St. Crispin on
Monday; and it commonly holds as long as
they have a penny of money, or a pennyworth
of credit." Therefore, plenty
begetteth laziness. Then, what does laziness
beget! All the world can tell. "We live
not in the isle of Lubberland, where fowls
fly into our mouths ready roasted." We
must work in order to obtain; and, if we
work not, nothing we shall have. Therefore,
laziness begetteth scarcity. Then, what
does scarcity beget? Sometimes scarcity
sends commodities out of use altogether;
but this cannot be the case with the great
necessaries, which man must have, or die:
the urgent call for them varies prices, which
the sellers take good care to keep up.
Therefore, scarcity begetteth dearness. Then,
what does dearness beget? Every man
looks about, and seeing the difficulty of
buying at such high prices, sets to work
more busily than before, to earn more money
wherewith to buy. "Need makes the old
wife trot," and she trots to a much better
purpose than before. "The journeymen
shoe-makers at this time will be their
masters' most humble servants, and do
almost what they will ask them, for hopes
of a little work. Therefore, dearness
begetteth industry. Then, what does industry
beget? Why, an abundance of everything,
since it is by industry that everything is
produced. Manufacturers not only pay for
what they want immediately, but they
accumulate a store at a low price, with a
hope of selling at a profit by-and-by. "Shoe-
makers make shoes now for tenpence the