Pagina 219 van 2651

A French author of great knowledge and ingenuity, Mr Messance,

receiver of the tallies in the election of St Etienne, endeavours

to shew that the poor do more work in cheap than in dear years,

by comparing the quantity and value of the goods made upon those

different occasions in three different manufactures; one of

coarse woollens, carried on at Elbeuf; one of linen, and another

of silk, both which extend through the whole generality of Rouen.

It appears from his account, which is copied from the registers

of the public offices, that the quantity and value of the goods

made in all those three manufactories has generally been greater

in cheap than in dear years, and that it has always been greatest

in the cheapest, and least in the dearest years. All the three

seem to be stationary manufactures, or which, though their

produce may vary somewhat from year to year, are, upon the whole,

neither going backwards nor forwards.