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profit, this may frequently be no more than the reasonable wages

of his labour, charged, in the only way in which he can charge

them, upon the price of his drugs. The greater part of the

apparent profit is real wages disguised in the garb of profit.

In a small sea-port town, a little grocer will make forty or

fifty per cent. upon a stock of a single hundred pounds, while a

considerable wholesale merchant in the same place will scarce

make eight or ten per cent. upon a stock of ten thousand. The

trade of the grocer may be necessary for the conveniency of the

inhabitants, and the narrowness of the market may not admit the

employment of a larger capital in the business. The man, however,

must not only live by his trade, but live by it suitably to the

qualifications which it requires. Besides possessing a little

capital, he must be able to read, write, and account and must be

a tolerable judge, too, of perhaps fifty or sixty different sorts

of goods, their prices, qualities, and the markets where they are

to be had cheapest. He must have all the knowledge, in short,

that is necessary for a great merchant, which nothing hinders him

from becoming but the want of a sufficient capital.