THE TRADESMAN IN HIS PREPARATIONS WHILE AN APPRENTICE
CHAPTER II
THE TRADESMAN'S WRITING LETTERS
CHAPTER III
THE TRADING STYLE
CHAPTER IV
OF THE TRADESMAN ACQUAINTING HIMSELF WITH ALL BUSINESS IN GENERAL
CHAPTER V
DILIGENCE AND APPLICATION IN BUSINESS
CHAPTER VI
OVER-TRADING
CHAPTER VII
OF THE TRADESMAN IN DISTRESS, AND BECOMING BANKRUPT
CHAPTER VIII
THE ORDINARY OCCASIONS OF THE RUIN OF TRADESMEN
CHAPTER IX
OF OTHER REASONS FOR THE TRADESMAN'S DISASTERS: AND, FIRST, OF INNOCENT
DIVERSIONS
CHAPTER X
OF EXTRAVAGANT AND EXPENSIVE LIVING; ANOTHER STEP TO A TRADESMAN'S
DISASTER
CHAPTER XI
OF THE TRADESMAN'S MARRYING TOO SOON
CHAPTER XII
OF THE TRADESMAN'S LEAVING HIS BUSINESS TO SERVANTS
CHAPTER XIII
OF TRADESMEN MAKING COMPOSITION WITH DEBTORS, OR WITH CREDITORS
CHAPTER XIV
OF THE UNFORTUNATE TRADESMAN COMPOUNDING WITH HIS CREDITORS
CHAPTER XV
OF TRADESMEN RUINING ONE ANOTHER BY RUMOUR AND CLAMOUR, BY SCANDAL AND
REPROACH
CHAPTER XVI
OF THE TRADESMAN'S ENTERING INTO PARTNERSHIP IN TRADE, AND THE MANY
DANGERS ATTENDING IT
CHAPTER XVII
OF HONESTY IN DEALING, AND LYING
CHAPTER XVIII
OF THE CUSTOMARY FRAUDS OF TRADE, WHICH HONEST MEN ALLOW THEMSELVES TO
PRACTISE, AND PRETEND TO JUSTIFY
CHAPTER XIX
OF FINE SHOPS, AND FINE SHOWS
CHAPTER XX
OF THE TRADESMAN'S KEEPING HIS BOOKS, AND CASTING UP HIS SHOP
CHAPTER XXI
OF THE TRADESMAN LETTING HIS WIFE BE ACQUAINTED WITH HIS BUSINESS
CHAPTER XXII
OF THE DIGNITY OF TRADE IN ENGLAND MORE THAN IN OTHER COUNTRIES
CHAPTER XXIII
OF THE INLAND TRADE OF ENGLAND, ITS MAGNITUDE, AND THE GREAT ADVANTAGE
IT IS TO THE NATION IN GENERAL
CHAPTER XXIV
OF CREDIT IN TRADE, AND HOW A TRADESMAN OUGHT TO VALUE AND IMPROVE IT:
HOW EASILY LOST, AND HOW HARD IT IS TO BE RECOVERED
CHAPTER XXV
OF THE TRADESMAN'S PUNCTUAL PAYING HIS BILLS AND PROMISSORY NOTES UNDER
HIS HAND, AND THE CREDIT HE GAINS BY IT
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The title of this work is an index of the performance. It is a
collection of useful instructions for a young tradesman. The world is
grown so wise of late, or (if you will) fancy themselves so, are so
_opiniatre_, as the French well express it, so self-wise, that I expect
some will tell us beforehand they know every thing already, and want
none of my instructions; and to such, indeed, these instructions are not
written.
Had I not, in a few years' experience, seen many young tradesmen
miscarry, for want of those very cautions which are here given, I should
have thought this work needless, and I am sure had never gone about to
write it; but as the contrary is manifest, I thought, and think still,
the world greatly wanted it.
And be it that those unfortunate creatures that have thus blown
themselves up in trade, have miscarried for want of knowing, or for want
of practising, what is here offered for their direction, whether for
want of wit, or by too much wit, the thing is the same, and the
direction is equally needful to both.
An old experienced pilot sometimes loses a ship by his assurance and
over confidence of his knowledge, as effectually as a young pilot does
by his ignorance and want of experience--this very thing, as I have been
informed, was the occasion of the fatal disaster in which Sir Cloudesley
Shovel, and so many hundred brave fellows, lost their lives in a moment
upon the rocks of Scilly.[1]
He that is above informing himself when he is in danger, is above pity
when he miscarries--a young tradesman who sets up thus full of himself,
and scorning advice from those who have gone before him, like a horse
that rushes into the battle, is only fearless of danger because he does
not understand it.
If there is not something extraordinary in the temper and genius of the
tradesmen of this age, if there is not something very singular in their
customs and methods, their conduct and behaviour in business; also, if
there is not something different and more dangerous and fatal in the
common road of trading, and tradesmen's management now, than ever was
before, what is the reason that there are so many bankrupts and broken
tradesmen now among us, more than ever were known before? I make no
doubt but there is as much trade now, and as much gotten by trading, as
there ever was in this nation, at least in our memory; and if we will
allow other people to judge, they will tell us there is much more trade,
and trade is much more gainful; what, then, must be the reason that the
tradesmen cannot live on their trades, cannot keep open their shops,
cannot maintain themselves and families, as well now as they could
before? Something extraordinary must be the case.
There must be some failure in the tradesman--it can be nowhere
else--either he is less sober and less frugal, less cautious of what he
does, whom he trusts, how he lives, and how he behaves, than tradesmen
used to be, or he is less industrious, less diligent, and takes less
care and pains in his business, or something is the matter; it cannot be
but if he had the same gain, and but the same expense which the former
ages suffered tradesmen to thrive with, he would certainly thrive as
they did. There must be something out of order in the foundation; he
must fail in the essential part, or he would not fail in his trade. The
same causes would have the same effects in all ages; the same gain, and
but the same expense, would just leave him in the same place as it would
have left his predecessor in the same shop; and yet we see one grow
rich, and the other starve, under the very same circumstances.
The temper of the times explains the case to every body that pleases but
to look into it. The expenses of a family are quite different now from
what they have been. Tradesmen cannot live as tradesmen in the same
class used to live; custom, and the manner of all the tradesmen round
them, command a difference; and he that will not do as others do, is
esteemed as nobody among them, and the tradesman is doomed to ruin by
the fate of the times.
In short, there is a fate upon a tradesman; either he must yield to the
snare of the times, or be the jest of the times; the young tradesman
cannot resist it; he must live as others do, or lose the credit of
living, and be run down as if he were bankrupt. In a word, he must spend
more than he can afford to spend, and so be undone; or not spend it, and
so be undone.
If he lives as others do, he breaks, because he spends more than he
gets; if he does not, he breaks too, because he loses his credit, and
that is to lose his trade. What must he do?[2]
The following directions are calculated for this exigency, and to
prepare the young tradesman to stem the attacks of those fatal customs,
which otherwise, if he yields to them, will inevitably send him the way
of all the thoughtless tradesmen that have gone before him.
Here he will be effectually, we hope, encouraged to set out well; to
begin wisely and prudently; and to avoid all those rocks which the gay
race of tradesmen so frequently suffer shipwreck upon. And here he will
have a true plan of his own prosperity drawn out for him, by which, if
it be not his own fault, he may square his conduct in an unerring
manner, and fear neither bad fortune nor bad friends. I had purposed to
give a great many other cautions and directions in this work, but it
would have spun it out too far, and have made it tedious. I would indeed
have discoursed of some branches of home trade, which necessarily
embarks the inland tradesman in some parts of foreign business, and so
makes a merchant of the shopkeeper almost whether he will or no. For
example, almost all the shopkeepers and inland traders in seaport towns,
or even in the water-side part of London itself, are necessarily brought
in to be owners of ships, and concerned at least in the vessel, if not
in the voyage. Some of their trades, perhaps, relate to, or are employed
in, the building, or fitting, or furnishing out ships, as is the case at
Shoreham, at Ipswich, Yarmouth, Hull, Whitby, Newcastle, and the like.
Others are concerned in the cargoes, as in the herring fishery at
Yarmouth and the adjacent ports, the colliery at Newcastle, Sunderland,
&c., and the like in many other cases.
In this case, the shopkeeper is sometimes a merchant adventurer, whether
he will or not, and some of his business runs into sea-adventures, as in
the salt trade at Sheffield, in Northumberland, and Durham, and again at
Limington; and again in the coal trade, from Whitehaven in Cumberland to
Ireland, and the like.
These considerations urged me to direct due cautions to such tradesmen,
and such as would be particular to them, especially not to launch out in
adventures beyond the compass of their stocks,[3] and withal to manage
those things with due wariness. But this work had not room for those
things; and as that sort of amphibious tradesmen, for such they are,
trading both by water and by land, are not of the kind with those
particularly aimed at in these sheets, I thought it was better to leave
them quite out than to touch but lightly upon them.
I had also designed one chapter or letter to my inland tradesmen, upon
the most important subject of borrowing money upon interest, which is
one of the most dangerous things a tradesman is exposed to. It is a
pleasant thing to a tradesman to see his credit rise, and men offer him
money to trade with, upon so slender a consideration as five per cent.
interest, when he gets ten per cent. perhaps twice in the year; but it
is a snare of the most dangerous kind in the event, and has been the
ruin of so many tradesmen, that, though I had not room for it in the
work, I could not let it pass without this notice in the preface.
1. Interest-money eats deep into the tradesman's profits, because it is
a payment certain, whether the tradesman gets or loses, and as he may
often get double, so sometimes he loses, and then his interest is a
double payment; it is a partner with him under this unhappy
circumstance, namely, that it goes halves when he gains, but not when he
loses.
2. The lender calls for his money when he pleases, and often comes for
it when the borrower can ill spare it; and then, having launched out in
trade on the supposition of so much in stock, he is left to struggle
with the enlarged trade with a contracted stock, and thus he sinks under
the weight of it, cannot repay the money, is dishonoured, prosecuted,
and at last undone, by the very loan which he took in to help him.
Interest of money is a dead weight upon the tradesman, and as the
interest always keeps him low, the principal sinks him quite down, when
that comes to be paid out again. Payment of interest, to a tradesman, is
like Cicero bleeding to death in a warm bath;[4] the pleasing warmth of
the bath makes him die in a kind of dream, and not feel himself decay,
till at last he is exhausted, falls into convulsions, and expires.
A tradesman held up by money at interest, is sure to sink at last by the
weight of it, like a man thrown into the sea with a stone tied about his
neck, who though he could swim if he was loose, drowns in spite of all
his struggle.
Indeed, this article would require not a letter, but a book by itself;
and the tragical stories of tradesmen undone by usury are so many, and
the variety so great, that they would make a history by themselves. But
it must suffice to treat it here only in general, and give the tradesmen
a warning of it, as the Trinity-house pilots warn sailors of a sand, by
hanging a buoy upon it, or as the Eddystone light-house upon a sunk
rock, which, as the poet says, 'Bids men stand off, and live; come near,
and die.'
For a tradesman to borrow money upon interest, I take to be like a man
going into a house infected with the plague; it is not only likely that
he may be infected and die, but next to a miracle if he escapes.
This part being thus hinted at, I think I may say of the following
sheets, that they contain all the directions needful to make the
tradesman thrive; and if he pleases to listen to them with a temper of
mind willing to be directed, he must have some uncommon ill luck if he
miscarries.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] [October 22, 1707.--Admiral Shovel, with the confederate fleet from
the Mediterranean, as he was coming home, apprehended himself near the
rocks of Scilly about noon, and the weather being hazy, he brought to
and lay by till evening, when he made a signal for sailing. What induced
him to be more cautious in the day than in the night is not known; but
the fleet had not been long under sail before his own ship, the
_Association_, with the _Eagle_ and _Romney_, were dashed to pieces upon
the rocks called the _Bishop and his Clerks_, and all their men lost;
the _Ferdinand_ was also cast away, and but twenty-four of her men
saved. Admiral Byng, perceiving the misfortune, altered his course,
whereby he preserved himself and the rest of the fleet which sailed
after him.--_Salmon's Chronological Historian_. London, 1723.]
[2] [There is much reason for receiving all such complaints as the above
with caution. The extravagance of the present, in contrast with the
frugality of a past age, has always been a favourite topic of
declamation, and appears to have no other foundation than whim. Indeed,
it is next to impossible that any great body of men could exist in the
circumstances described in the text.]
[3] [Stock is in this book invariably used for what we express by the
term _capital_.]
[4] [Cicero is here given by mistake for Seneca, who thus suffered death
by order of the tyrant Nero.]
INTRODUCTION
Being to direct this discourse to the tradesmen of this nation, it is
needful, in order to make the substance of this work and the subject of
it agree together, that I should in a few words explain the terms, and
tell the reader who it is we understand by the word tradesman, and how
he is to be qualified in order to merit the title of _complete_.
This is necessary, because the said term tradesman is understood by
several people, and in several places, in a different manner: for
example, in the north of Britain, and likewise in Ireland, when you say
a tradesman, you are understood to mean a mechanic, such as a smith, a
carpenter, a shoemaker, and the like, such as here we call a
handicraftsman. In like manner, abroad they call a tradesman such only
as carry goods about from town to town, and from market to market, or
from house to house, to sell; these in England we call petty chapmen, in
the north pethers, and in our ordinary speech pedlars.
But in England, and especially in London, and the south parts of
Britain, we take it in another sense, and in general, all sorts of
warehouse-keepers, shopkeepers, whether wholesale dealers or retailers
of goods, are called tradesmen, or, to explain it by another word,
trading men: such are, whether wholesale or retail, our grocers,
mercers, linen and woollen drapers, Blackwell-hall factors,
tobacconists, haberdashers, whether of hats or small wares, glovers,
hosiers, milliners, booksellers, stationers, and all other shopkeepers,
who do not actually work upon, make, or manufacture, the goods they
sell.
On the other hand, those who make the goods they sell, though they do
keep shops to sell them, are not called tradesmen, but handicrafts, such
as smiths, shoemakers, founders, joiners, carpenters, carvers, turners,
and the like; others, who only make, or cause to be made, goods for
other people to sell, are called manufacturers and artists, &c. Thus
distinguished, I shall speak of them all as occasion requires, taking
this general explication to be sufficient; and I thus mention it to
prevent being obliged to frequent and further particular descriptions as
I go on.
As there are several degrees of people employed in trade below these,
such as workmen, labourers, and servants, so there is a degree of
traders above them, which we call merchants; where it is needful to
observe, that in other countries, and even in the north of Britain and
Ireland, as the handicraftsmen and artists are called tradesmen, so the
shopkeepers whom we here call tradesmen, are all called merchants; nay,
even the very pedlars are called travelling merchants.[5] But in England
the word merchant is understood of none but such as carry on foreign
correspondences, importing the goods and growth of other countries, and
exporting the growth and manufacture of England to other countries; or,
to use a vulgar expression, because I am speaking to and of those who
use that expression, such as trade beyond sea. These in England, and
these only, are called merchants, by way of honourable distinction;
these I am not concerned with in this work, nor is any part of it
directed to them.
As the tradesmen are thus distinguished, and their several occupations
divided into proper classes, so are the trades. The general commerce of
England, as it is the most considerable of any nation in the world, so
that part of it which we call the home or inland trade, is equal, if not
superior, to that of any other nation, though some of those nations are
infinitely greater than England, and more populous also, as France and
Germany in particular.
I insist that the trade of England is greater and more considerable than
that of any other nation, for these reasons: 1. Because England produces
more goods as well for home consumption as for foreign exportation, and
those goods all made of its own produce or manufactured by its own
inhabitants, than any other nation in the world. 2. Because England
consumes within itself more goods of foreign growth, imported from the
several countries where they are produced or wrought, than any other
nation in the world. And--3. Because for the doing this England employs
more shipping and more seamen than any other nation, and, some think,
than all the other nations, of Europe.
Hence, besides the great number of wealthy merchants who carry on this
great foreign _negoce_ [_negotium_ (Latin) business], and who, by their
corresponding with all parts of the world, import the growth of all
countries hither--I say, besides these, we have a very great number of
considerable dealers, whom we call tradesmen, who are properly called
warehouse-keepers, who supply the merchants with all the several kinds
of manufactures, and other goods of the produce of England, for
exportation; and also others who are called wholesalemen, who buy and
take off from the merchants all the foreign goods which they import;
these, by their corresponding with a like sort of tradesmen in the
country, convey and hand forward those goods, and our own also, among
those country tradesmen, into every corner of the kingdom, however
remote, and by them to the retailers, and by the retailer to the last
consumer, which is the last article of all trade. These are the
tradesmen understood in this work, and for whose service these sheets
are made public.
Having thus described the person whom I understand by the English
tradesman, it is then needful to inquire into his qualifications, and
what it is that renders him a finished or complete man in his business.
1. That he has a general knowledge of not his own particular trade and
business only--that part, indeed, well denominates a handicraftsman to
be a complete artist; but our complete tradesman ought to understand all
the inland trade of England, so as to be able to turn his hand to any
thing, or deal in any thing or every thing of the growth and product of
his own country, or the manufacture of the people, as his circumstances
in trade or other occasions may require; and may, if he sees occasion,
lay down one trade and take up another when he pleases, without serving
a new apprenticeship to learn it.
2. That he not only has a knowledge of the species or kinds of goods,
but of the places and peculiar countries where those goods, whether
product or manufacture, are to be found; that is to say, where produced
or where made, and how to come at them or deal in them, at the first
hand, and to his best advantage.
3. That he understands perfectly well all the methods of
correspondence, returning money or goods for goods, to and from every
county in England; in what manner to be done, and in what manner most to
advantage; what goods are generally bought by barter and exchange, and
what by payment of money; what for present money, and what for time;
what are sold by commission from the makers, what bought by factors, and
by giving commission to buyers in the country, and what bought by orders
to the maker, and the like; what markets are the most proper to buy
every thing at, and where and when; and what fairs are proper to go to
in order to buy or sell, or meet the country dealer at, such as
Sturbridge, Bristol, Chester, Exeter; or what marts, such as Beverly,
Lynn, Boston, Gainsborough, and the like.
In order to complete the English tradesman in this manner, the first
thing to be done is lay down such general maxims of trade as are fit for
his instruction, and then to describe the English or British product,
being the fund of its inland trade, whether we mean its produce as the
growth of the country, or its manufactures, as the labour of her people;
then to acquaint the tradesman with the manner of the circulation where
those things are found, how and by what methods all those goods are
brought to London, and from London again conveyed into the country;
where they are principally bought at best hand, and most to the
advantage of the buyer, and where the proper markets are to dispose of
them again when bought.
These are the degrees by which the complete tradesman is brought up, and
by which he is instructed in the principles and methods of his commerce,
by which he is made acquainted with business, and is capable of carrying
it on with success, after which there is not a man in the universe
deserves the title of a complete tradesman, like the English shopkeeper.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] [This misuse of the term _merchant_ continues to exist in Scotland
to the present day.]
CHAPTER I
THE TRADESMAN IN HIS PREPARATIONS WHILE AN APPRENTICE
The first part of a trader's beginning is ordinarily when he is very
young, I mean, when he goes as an apprentice, and the notions of trade
are scarcely got into his head; for boys go apprentices while they are
but boys; to talk to them in their first three or four years signifies
nothing; they are rather then to be taught submission to families, and
subjection to their masters, and dutiful attendance in their shops or
warehouses; and this is not our present business.
But after they have entered the fifth or sixth year, they may then be
entertained with discourses of another nature; and as they begin then to
look forward beyond the time of their servitude, and think of setting up
and being for themselves, I think then is the time to put them upon
useful preparations for the work, and to instruct them in such things as
may qualify them best to enter upon the world, and act for themselves
when they are so entered.
The first thing a youth in the latter part of his time is to do, is to
endeavour to gain a good judgment in the wares of all kinds that he is
likely to deal in--as, for example, if a draper, the quality of cloths;
if a stationer, the quality of papers; if a grocer, the quality of
sugars, teas, &c.; and so on with all other trades. During the first
years of a young man's time, he of course learns to weigh and measure
either liquids or solids, to pack up and make bales, trusses, packages,
&c., and to do the coarser and laborious part of business; but all that
gives him little knowledge in the species and quality of the goods, much
less a nice judgment in their value and sorts, which however is one of
the principal things that belong to trade.
It is supposed that, by this time, if his master is a man of
considerable business, his man is become the eldest apprentice, and is
taken from the counter, and from sweeping the warehouse, into the
counting-house, where he, among other things, sees the bills of parcels
of goods bought, and thereby knows what every thing costs at first hand,
what gain is made of them, and if a miscarriage happens, he knows what
loss too; by which he is led of course to look into the goodness of the
goods, and see the reason of things: if the goods are not to
expectation, and consequently do not answer the price, he sees the
reason of that loss, and he looks into the goods, and sees where and how
far they are deficient, and in what; this, if he be careful to make his
observations, brings him naturally to have a good judgment in the goods.
If a young man neglects this part, and passes over the season for such
improvement, he very rarely ever recovers it; for this part has its
season, and that more remarkable than in many other cases, and that
season lost, never comes again; a judgment in goods taken in early, is
never lost, and a judgment taken in late is seldom good.
If the youth slips this occasion, and, not minding what is before him,
goes out of his time without obtaining such a skill as this in the goods
he is to deal in, he enters into trade without his most useful tools,
and must use spectacles before his time.
For want of this knowledge of the goods, he is at a loss in the buying
part, and is liable to be cheated and imposed upon in the most notorious
manner by the sharp-sighted world, for his want of judgment is a thing
that cannot be hid; the merchants or manufacturers of whom he buys,
presently discover him; the very boys in the wholesalemen's warehouses,
and in merchant's warehouses, will play upon him, sell him one thing for
another, show him a worse sort when he calls for a better, and, asking a
higher price for it, persuade him it is better; and when they have thus
bubbled him, they triumph over his ignorance when he is gone, and expose
him to the last degree.
Besides, for want of judgment in the goods he is to buy, he often runs a
hazard of being cheated to a very great degree, and perhaps some time or
other a tradesman may be ruined by it, or at least ruin his reputation.
When I lived abroad, I had once a commission sent me from a merchant in
London, to buy a large parcel of brandy: the goods were something out of
my way, having never bought any in that country before. However, it
happened that I had frequently bought and imported brandies in England,
and had some judgment in them, so much that I ventured to buy without
taking a cooper with me, which was not usual in that place. The first
parcel of brandy I saw was very good, and I bought freely to the value
of about £600, and shipped them for England, where they gave very good
satisfaction to my employer. But I could not complete my commission to
my mind in that parcel. Some days after, some merchants, who had seen me
buy the other, and thought me a novice in the business, and that I took
no cooper to taste the brandy, laid a plot for me, which indeed was such
a plot as I was not in the least aware of; and had not the little
judgment which I had in the commodity prevented, I had been notoriously
abused. The case was thus:--They gave me notice by the same person who
helped me to the sight of the first brandy, that there was a cellar of
extraordinary good brandy at such a place, and invited me to see it.
Accordingly I went in an afternoon, and tasted the brandy, being a large
parcel, amounting to about £460.
I liked the goods very well; but the merchant, as they called him, that
is to say, the knave appointed to cheat the poor stranger, was cunningly
out of the way, so that no bargain was to be made that night. But as I
had said that I liked the brandy, the same person who brought me an
account of them, comes to my lodgings to treat with me about the price.
We did not make many words: I bade him the current price which I had
bought for some days before, and after a few struggles for five crowns
a-tun more, he came to my price, and his next word was to let me know
the gage of the cask; and as I had seen the goods already, he thought
there was nothing to do but to make a bargain, and order the goods to be
delivered.
But young as I was, I was too old for that too; and told him, I could
not tell positively how many I should take, but that I would come in the
afternoon, and taste them again, and mark out what I wanted. He seemed
uneasy at that, and pretended he had two merchants waiting to see them,
and he could sell them immediately, and I might do him a prejudice if I
made him wait and put them off, who perhaps might buy in the mean time.
I answered him coldly, I would not hinder him selling them by any means
if he could have a better chapman, that I could not come sooner, and
that I would not be obliged to take the whole parcel, nor would I buy
any of them without tasting them again: he argued much to have me buy
them, seeing, as he said, I had tasted them before, and liked them very
well.
'I did so,' said I, 'but I love to have my palate confirm one day what
it approved the day before.' 'Perhaps,' says he, 'you would have some
other person's judgment of them, and you are welcome to do so, sir, with
all my heart; send any body you please:' but still he urged for a
bargain, when the person sent should make his report; and then he had
his agents ready, I understood afterwards, to manage the persons I
should send.
I answered him frankly, I had no great judgment, but that, such as it
was, I ventured to trust to it; I thought I had honest men to deal with,
and that I should bring nobody to taste them for me but myself.
This pleased him, and was what he secretly wished; and now, instead of
desiring me to come immediately, he told me, that seeing I would not buy
without seeing the goods again, and would not go just then, he could not
be in the way in the afternoon, and so desired I would defer it till
next morning, which I readily agreed to.
In the morning I went, but not so soon as I had appointed; upon which,
when I came, he seemed offended, and said I had hindered him--that he
could have sold the whole parcel, &c. I told him I could not have
hindered him, for that I had told him he should not wait for me, but
sell them to the first good customer he found. He told me he had indeed
sold two or three casks, but he would not disoblige me so much as to
sell the whole parcel before I came. This I mention, because he made it
a kind of a bite upon me, that I should not be alarmed at seeing the
casks displaced in the cellar.
When I came to taste the brandy, I began to be surprised. I saw the very
same casks which I had touched with the marking-iron when I was there
before, but I did not like the brandy by any means, but did not yet
suspect the least foul play.
I went round the whole cellar, and I could not mark above three casks
which I durst venture to buy; the rest apparently showed themselves to
be mixed, at least I thought so. I marked out the three casks, and told
him my palate had deceived me, that the rest of the brandy was not for
my turn.
I saw the man surprised, and turn pale, and at first seemed to be very
angry, that I should, as he called it, disparage the goods--that sure I
did not understand brandy, and the like--and that I should have brought
somebody with me that did understand it. I answered coldly, that if I
ventured my money upon my own judgment, the hazard was not to the
seller, but to the buyer, and nobody had to do with that; if I did not
like his goods, another, whose judgment was better, might like them, and
so there was no harm done: in a word, he would not let me have the three
casks I had marked, unless I took more, and I would take no more--so we
parted, but with no satisfaction on his side; and I afterwards came to
hear that he had sat up all the night with his coopers, mixing spirits
in every cask, whence he drew off a quantity of the right brandy, and
corrupted it, concluding, that as I had no judgment to choose by but my
own, I could not discover it; and it came out by his quarrelling with
the person who brought me to him, for telling him I did not understand
the goods, upon which presumption he ventured to spoil the whole parcel.
I give you this story as a just caution to a young tradesman, and to
show how necessary it is that a tradesman should have judgment in the
goods he buys, and how easily he may be imposed upon and abused, if he
offers to buy upon his own judgment, when really it is defective. I
could enlarge this article with many like examples, but I think this may
suffice.
The next thing I recommend to an apprentice at the conclusion of his
time, is to acquaint himself with his master's chapmen;[6] I mean of
both kinds, as well those he sells to, as those he buys of, and, if he
is a factor, with his master's employers. But what I aim at now is the
chapmen and customers whom his master chiefly sells to. I need not
explain myself not to mean by this the chance customers of a retailer's
shop, for there can be no acquaintance, or very little, made with them;
I mean the country shopkeepers, or others, who buy in parcels, and who
buy to sell again, or export as merchants. If the young man comes from
his master, and has formed no acquaintance or interest among the
customers whom his master dealt with, he has, in short, slipt or lost
one of the principal ends and reasons of his being an apprentice, in
which he has spent seven years, and perhaps his friends given a
considerable sum of money.
For a young man coming out of his time to have his shop or warehouse
stocked with goods, and his customers all to seek, will make his
beginning infinitely more difficult to him than it would otherwise be;
and he not only has new customers to seek, but has their characters to
seek also, and knows not who is good and who not, till he buys that
knowledge by his experience, and perhaps sometimes pays too dear for it.
It was an odd circumstance of a tradesman in this city a few years ago,
who, being out of his time, and going to solicit one of his master's
customers to trade with him, the chapman did not so much as know him, or
remember that he had ever heard his name, except as he had heard his
master call his apprentice Jacob. I know some masters diligently watch
to prevent their apprentices speaking to their customers, and to keep
them from acquainting themselves with the buyers, that when they come
out of their times they may not carry the trade away with them.
To hinder an apprentice from an acquaintance with the dealers of both
sorts, is somewhat like Laban's usage of Jacob, namely, keeping back the
beloved Rachel, whom he served his seven years' time for, and putting
him off with a blear-eyed Leah in her stead; it is, indeed, a kind of
robbing him, taking from him the advantage which he served his time for,
and sending him into the world like a man out of a ship set on shore
among savages, who, instead of feeding him, are indeed more ready to eat
him up and devour him.[7]
An apprentice who has served out his time faithfully and diligently,
ought to claim it as a debt to his indentures, that his master should
let him into an open acquaintance with his customers; he does not else
perform his promise to teach him the art and mystery of his trade; he
does not make him master of his business, or enable him as he ought to
set up in the world; for, as buying is indeed the first, so selling is
the last end of trade, and the faithful apprentice ought to be fully
made acquainted with them both.
Next to being acquainted with his master's customers and chapmen, the
apprentice, when his time is near expiring, ought to acquaint himself
with the books, that is to say, to see and learn his master's method of
book-keeping, that he may follow it, if the method is good, and may
learn a better method in time, if it is not.
The tradesman should not be at a loss how to keep his books, when he is
to begin his trade; that would be to put him to school when he is just
come from school; his apprenticeship is, and ought in justice to be, a
school to him, where he ought to learn every thing that should qualify
him for his business, at least every thing that his master can teach
him; and if he finds his master either backward or unwilling to teach
him, he should complain in time to his own friends, that they may some
how or other supply the defect.
A tradesman's books are his repeating clock, which upon all occasions
are to tell him how he goes on, and how things stand with him in the
world: there he will know when it is time to go on, or when it is time
to give over; and upon his regular keeping, and fully acquainting
himself with his books, depends at least the comfort of his trade, if
not the very trade itself. If they are not duly posted, and if every
thing is not carefully entered in them, the debtor's accounts kept even,
the cash constantly balanced, and the credits all stated, the tradesman
is like a ship at sea, steered without a helm; he is all in confusion,
and knows not what he does, or where he is; he may be a rich man, or a
bankrupt--for, in a word, he can give no account of himself to himself,
much less to any body else.
His books being so essential to his trade, he that comes out of his time
without a perfect knowledge of the method of book-keeping, like a bride
undrest, is not fit to be married; he knows not what to do, or what step
to take; he may indeed have served his time, but he has not learned his
trade, nor is he fit to set up; and be the fault in himself for not
learning, or in his master for not teaching him, he ought not to set up
till he has gotten some skilful person to put him in a way to do it, and
make him fully to understand it.
It is true, there is not a great deal of difficulty in keeping a
tradesman's books, especially if he be a retailer only; but yet, even in
the meanest trades, they ought to know how to keep books. But the advice
is directed to those who are above the retailer, as well as to them; if
the book-keeping be small, it is the sooner learned, and the apprentice
is the more to blame if he neglects it. Besides, the objection is much
more trifling than the advice. The tradesman cannot carry on any
considerable trade without books; and he must, during his
apprenticeship, prepare himself for business by acquainting himself with
every thing needful for his going on with his trade, among which that of
book-keeping is absolutely necessary.
The last article, and in itself essential to a young tradesman, is to
know how to buy; if his master is kind and generous, he will consider
the justice of this part, and let him into the secret of it of his own
free will, and that before his time is fully expired; but if that should
not happen, as often it does not, let the apprentice know, that it is
one of the most needful things to him that can belong to his
apprenticeship, and that he ought not to let his time run over his head,
without getting as much insight into it as possible; that therefore he
ought to lose no opportunity to get into it, even whether his master
approves of it or no; for as it is a debt due to him from his master to
instruct him in it, it is highly just he should use all proper means to
come at it.
Indeed, the affair in this age between masters and their apprentices,
stands in a different view from what the same thing was a few years
past; the state of our apprenticeship is not a state of servitude now,
and hardly of subjection, and their behaviour is accordingly more like
gentlemen than tradesmen; more like companions to their masters, than
like servants. On the other hand, the masters seem to have made over
their authority to their apprentices for a sum of money, the money taken
now with apprentices being most exorbitantly great, compared to what it
was in former times.
Now, though this does not at all exempt the servant or apprentice from
taking care of himself, and to qualify himself for business while he is
an apprentice, yet it is evident that it is no furtherance to
apprentices; the liberties they take towards the conclusion of their
time, are so much employed to worse purposes, that apprentices do not
come out of their times better finished for business and trade than they
did formerly, but much the worse: and though it is not the proper
business and design of this work to enlarge on the injustice done both
to master and servant by this change of custom, yet to bring it to my
present purpose, it carries this force with it, namely, that the advice
to apprentices to endeavour to finish themselves for business during the
time of the indenture, is so much the more needful and seasonable.
Nor is this advice for the service of the master, but of the apprentice;
for if the apprentice neglects this advice, if he omits to qualify
himself for business as above, if he neither will acquaint himself with
the customers, nor the books, nor with the buying part, nor gain
judgment in the wares he is to deal in, the loss is his own, not his
master's--and, indeed, he may be said to have served not himself, but
his master--and both his money and his seven years are all thrown away.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] [Individuals dealt with.]
[7] [It would be hard to doubt that Defore was sincere in this pleading
of the rights of the apprentice; but its morality is certainly far from
clear. The master may have gained customers with difficulty, by the
exercise of much ingenuity, patience, and industry, or through some
peculiar merit of his own. Indeed, it is always to be presumed that a
tradesman's customers are attached to him from some of these causes. Of
course, it would be hard if his apprentices, instead of collecting
customers for themselves by the same means, seduced away those of his
master. The true and direct object of an apprenticeship is to acquire a
trade, not to acquire customers.]