Interactive Applications Using Matplotlib 1st

Edition Root download

https://ebookname.com/product/interactive-applications-using-
matplotlib-1st-edition-root/

Get Instant Ebook Downloads – Browse at https://ebookname.com

Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) available
Download now and explore formats that suit you...

Root to Stalk Cooking The Art of Using the Whole

Vegetable 1st Edition Tara Duggan

https://ebookname.com/product/root-to-stalk-cooking-the-art-of-
using-the-whole-vegetable-1st-edition-tara-duggan/

Interactive computer graphics a top down approach using

OpenGL 5th ed. international ed Edition Angel

https://ebookname.com/product/interactive-computer-graphics-a-
top-down-approach-using-opengl-5th-ed-international-ed-edition-
angel/

Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive

Applications 3rd Edition James M. Van Verth

https://ebookname.com/product/essential-mathematics-for-games-
and-interactive-applications-3rd-edition-james-m-van-verth-2/

Accounting Horngren

https://ebookname.com/product/accounting-horngren/
The Russian Revolution 1900 1927 rev expanded 4th ed
2009 Robert Service

https://ebookname.com/product/the-russian-
revolution-1900-1927-rev-expanded-4th-ed-2009-robert-service/

Applied Criminal Psychology A Guide to Forensic

Behavioral Sciences 1st Edition Richard N. Kocsis
(Editor)

https://ebookname.com/product/applied-criminal-psychology-a-
guide-to-forensic-behavioral-sciences-1st-edition-richard-n-
kocsis-editor/

Cyberlaw Problems of Policy and Jurisprudence in the

Information Age American Casebook Series 5th Edition
Bellia

https://ebookname.com/product/cyberlaw-problems-of-policy-and-
jurisprudence-in-the-information-age-american-casebook-
series-5th-edition-bellia/

Medicinal plants of North America a field guide 2nd

edition Edition Meuninck

https://ebookname.com/product/medicinal-plants-of-north-america-
a-field-guide-2nd-edition-edition-meuninck/

Toxicology of Reptiles 1st Edition Susan C. M. Gardner

https://ebookname.com/product/toxicology-of-reptiles-1st-edition-
susan-c-m-gardner/
Amyloid Proteins Methods and Protocols 2nd ed. 2012
Edition Einar M. Sigurdsson

https://ebookname.com/product/amyloid-proteins-methods-and-
protocols-2nd-ed-2012-edition-einar-m-sigurdsson/
[1]
Interactive Applications Using
Matplotlib

Don't just see your data, experience it!

Benjamin V. Root

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Interactive Applications Using Matplotlib

Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: March 2015

Production reference: 1170315

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78398-884-6

www.packtpub.com
 Credits

Author Project Coordinator

Benjamin V. Root Harshal Ved

Reviewers Proofreaders
Kamran Husain Maria Gould
Nathan Jarus Lesley Harrison
Jens Hedegaard Nielsen Bernadette Watkins
Sergi Pons Freixes
Indexer
Acquisition Editors Monica Ajmera Mehta
Richard Gall
Owen Roberts Production Coordinator
Conidon Miranda
Content Development Editor
Shubhangi Dhamgaye
Cover Work
Conidon Miranda
Technical Editors
Tanvi Bhatt
Nanda Padmanabhan

Copy Editors
Roshni Banerjee
Gladson Monteiro
 About the Author

Benjamin V. Root has been a member of the Matplotlib development team

since 2010. His main areas of development have been the documentation and the
mplot3d toolkit, but now he focuses on code reviews and debugging. Ben is also an
active member of mailing lists, using his expertise to help newcomers understand
Matplotlib. He is a meteorology graduate student, working part-time on his PhD
dissertation. He works full-time for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc.
as a scientific programmer.

I would like to acknowledge the entire Matplotlib development team

for their insightful responses to my questions while I was writing
this book. In particular, I would like to thank Michael Droettboom,
Eric Firing, Thomas Caswell, Phil Elson, and Ryan May. Thanks
also go to the members of the matplotlib users' list without whom I
would have never learned this tool in the first place and for whom I
wrote this book.

This book would not have been possible without the love and
support of my wife, Margaret. She put up with far more than she
should have, and for that, I am in her debt.

Last, but not least, I must acknowledge John Hunter, the creator
of Matplotlib and the man who included me into the development
team. Working with him and the rest of the team allowed me to
mature as a programmer and scientist, and directly resulted in me
attaining my current employment, thus starting my career.
 About the Reviewers

Nathan Jarus is a computer science PhD candidate at Missouri S&T. He regularly

uses Matplotlib to visualize and experiment with results. Prior to his graduate
studies, he spent several years developing data visualization tools for research
professors. Beyond visualization, he studies complex system modeling and control.

Jens Hedegaard Nielsen is a research software developer at University College

London, where he works on a number of different programming projects in relation
to research across the university. He is an active Matplotlib developer. He has a PhD
in experimental laser physics from Aarhus University, Denmark.
Sergi Pons Freixes is a telecommunications engineer and a PhD candidate with
experience on optical sensors and data analysis. For almost 10 years, he has been
working in international environments, performing both hands-on development
and research.

During his master's degree in telecommunications engineering, he engaged in

part-time research in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), with the design and development of a
low-cost hyperspectral in-situ sensor. This experience stimulated him to start a PhD
at the same department. He obtained a grant from the Spanish National Research
Council (CSIC) and performed his predoctoral training at the Marine Technology
Unit in Barcelona, graduating for a master of advanced studies and leading and
supervising the master thesis of other university students, while continuing his
research on low-cost solutions oriented to increase the observational capabilities
for marine/oceanographic biological information systems.

In 2011, he gained a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and

Competitiveness to expand his experience in international scientific organisms,
moving to the European Space Agency office in Italy and working on assessing the
viability of remote sensing coral monitoring. During his stay, he gained a contractor
position as performance simulation engineer for the Sentinel 3 satellite project at
the European Space Agency facilities in the Netherlands, being responsible for the
simulators and processors operation and maintenance.

In January 2015, he moved to San Diego, California, where he is currently finishing

his PhD while he pursues new opportunities.
 www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

For support files and downloads related to your book, please visit www.PacktPub.com.

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF
and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.PacktPub.com
and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in
touch with us at service@packtpub.com for more details.

At www.PacktPub.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles,

sign up for a range of free newsletters and receive exclusive discounts and offers
on Packt books and eBooks.
TM

https://www2.packtpub.com/books/subscription/packtlib

Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital
book library. Here, you can search, access, and read Packt's entire library of books.

Why subscribe?
• Fully searchable across every book published by Packt
• Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content
• On demand and accessible via a web browser

Free access for Packt account holders

If you have an account with Packt at www.PacktPub.com, you can use this to access
PacktLib today and view 9 entirely free books. Simply use your login credentials for
immediate access.
 Table of Contents
Preface v
Chapter 1: Introducing Interactive Plotting 1
Installing Matplotlib 1
Show() your work 3
Interactive navigation 3
Interactive plotting 4
Scripted plotting 5
Getting help 6
Gallery 6
Mailing lists and forums 6
From front to backend 7
Interactive versus non-interactive 7
Anti-grain geometry 8
Selecting your backend 8
The Matplotlib figure-artist hierarchy 9
Canvassing the figure 10
The menagerie of artists 13
Primitives 14
Collections 17
Summary 19
Chapter 2: Using Events and Callbacks 21
Making the connection 22
The big event 25
Breaking up is the easiest thing to do 31
Keymapping 34
Picking 38

[i]
Table of Contents

Data editing 41
User events 48
Editor events 49
Summary 54
Chapter 3: Animations 55
A short history 55
The fastest draw in the west 56
The animation module 57
Advanced animations 60
Event source 64
Timers 66
Blitting 68
Recipes 69
Tails 69
Fades 72
Saving animations 74
Notes about codecs and file formats 75
Simultaneous animations 77
How animations are saved 78
Session recorder 79
Summary 83
Chapter 4: Widgets 85
Built-in widgets 85
Slider 86
Button 89
Check buttons 92
Radio button 95
Lasso 99
LassoSelector 103
RectangleSelector 104
SpanSelector 108
Cursor 110
format_coord() 110
Third-party tools 113
mpldatacursor 114
Glue 114
Plot.ly, ggplot, prettyplotlib, and Seaborn 114
Summary 115

[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Chapter 5: Embedding Matplotlib 117

The revelation 119
Through a glass, darkly 119
Tinker tailor soldier pylab_setup() 120
Canvas materials 121
Bars, menus, and sliders – four ways 122
GTK 122
Tkinter 127
wxWidgets 131
Qt 135
Matplotlib in your app 140
GTK 140
Tkinter 143
wxWidgets 144
Qt 146
Summary 147
Index 149

[ iii ]
 Preface
Why Matplotlib? Why Python, for that matter? I picked up Python for scientific
development because I needed a full-fledged programming language that made
sense. Too often, I felt hemmed in by the traditional tools in the meteorology field.
I needed a language that respected my time as a developer and didn't fight me
every step of the way. "Don't you find Python constricting?" asked a colleague who
was fond of bad puns. "No, quite the opposite," I replied, the joke going right over
my head.

Matplotlib is the same in this respect. Switching from traditional graphing tools of
the meteorology field to Matplotlib was a breath of fresh air. Not only were useful
programs being written using the Matplotlib library, but it was also easy to write
my own. Furthermore, I could write out modules and easily use them in both
the hardcopy generating scripts for my publications and for my data exploration
interactive applications. Most importantly, the Matplotlib library let me do what
I needed it to do.

I have been an active developer for Matplotlib since 2010 and I am still discovering
Matplotlib. It isn't that the library is insanely huge and unwieldy—it isn't. Instead,
Matplotlib appeals to all levels of expertise and interests. One can simply care
enough only to get a single plot displayed in three line of code and never think of the
library again. Or, one could assume control over every single minute plotting detail,
ensuring that everything is displayed "just right." And even when one does this and
thinks they have seen every single nook and cranny of the library, they will discover
some other feature that they have never seen before.

[v]
Preface

Matplotlib is 12 years old now. New plotting projects have cropped up—some
supplementing Matplotlib's design, while others trying to replace Matplotlib
entirely. However, there has been no slacking of interest in Matplotlib, not from the
users and definitely not from the developers. The new projects are interesting, and
as with all things open source, we try to learn from these projects. But I keep coming
back to this project. Its design, developers, and community of users are some of the
best and most devoted in the open source world.

The book you are reading right now is actually not the book I originally wanted to
write. The interactive aspect of Matplotlib is not my area of expertise. After some
nudging from fellow developers and users, I relented. I proceeded to rewrite the
only interactive application I had ever finished and published. Working through the
chapters, I tried to find better ways of doing the things I did originally, pointing out
major pitfalls and easy mistakes as I encountered them. It was a significant learning
experience for me, which was wholly unexpected.

I now invite you to discover Matplotlib for yourself. Whether it is the first time or
not, it certainly won't be the last.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introducing Interactive Plotting, covers basic figure-axes-artist hierarchy and
other Matplotlib essentials such as displaying the plot. It also introduces you to the
interactive Matplotlib figure.

Chapter 2, Using Events and Callbacks, provides Matplotlib's events and a callback
system to bring your figures to life. It also explains how you can extend it with
custom events, making the application truly interactive.

Chapter 3, Animations, deals with ArtistAnimation, FuncAnimation, and timers

to make animations of all types. It also deals with animations that can be saved
as movies.

Chapter 4, Widgets, covers built-in widgets such as buttons, checkboxes, selectors,

lassos, and sliders, which are all explained and demonstrated. Here, you'll also learn
about other useful third-party widgets and tools.

Chapter 5, Embedding Matplotlib, teaches you how to add GUI elements to an existing
Matplotlib application. Here you'll also see how to add your interactive Matplotlib
figure to an existing GUI application. Identical examples are presented using GTK,
Tkinter, wxWidgets, and Qt.

[ vi ]
 Preface

What you need for this book

At the absolute least, you will need the following Python packages installed on
your system: NumPy, SciPy, Basemap, and (of course) Matplotlib. To work on the
instructions presented in Chapter 5, Embedding Matplotlib, you will want to have at
least one of the following GUI toolkits installed: GTK, Tkinter (should come with
Python), wxWidgets, or Qt (version 4 is preferred; version 5 is supported only
recently for Matplotlib version 1.4). You will also need the corresponding Python
bindings for the GUI toolkits (some come with them by default).

Who this book is for

If you are a Python programmer who wants to do more than just see your data, this is
the book for you. It will explain the SciPy stack (that is, NumPy and Matplotlib) and
provide pointers to install them. Experience with GUI toolkits, such as wxPython, Qt,
or GTK+, is also not required, so this book can be an excellent complement to other
GUI programming resources. To understand the examples and explanations, you need
to know basic object-oriented programming terms and concepts.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different
kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of
their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions,
pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows:
"We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."

A block of code is set as follows:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.collections import LineCollection
from tutorial import track_loader
tracks = track_loader('polygons.shp')
# Filter out non-tracks (unassociated polygons given trackID of -9)
tracks = {tid: t for tid, t in tracks.items() if tid != -9}

[ vii ]
Preface

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the
relevant lines or items are set in bold:
polys = [p for p in cells.polygons]
for p in polys:
p.set_visible(True)
p.set_alpha(0.0)

def update(frame, polys):

for i, p in enumerate(polys):
alpha = 0.0 if i > frame else 1.0 / ((frame - i + 1)**2)
p.set_alpha(alpha)

ax.set_xlabel("Longitude")
ax.set_ylabel("Latitude")
strmanim = FuncAnimation(fig, update, frameCnt,
fargs=(polys,))
plt.show()

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ pip install matplotlib

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the
screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Now click
on the Selection radio button and you will find that you can select a polygon again."

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

[ viii ]
 Preface

Reader feedback
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about
this book—what you liked or disliked. Reader feedback is important for us as it helps
us develop titles that you will really get the most out of.

To send us general feedback, simply e-mail feedback@packtpub.com, and mention

the book's title in the subject of your message.

If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing
or contributing to a book, see our author guide at www.packtpub.com/authors.

Customer support
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to
help you to get the most from your purchase.

Downloading the example code

You can download the example code files from your account at http://www.
packtpub.com for all the Packt Publishing books you have purchased. If you
purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit http://www.packtpub.com/support
and register to have the files e-mailed directly to you.

Errata
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes
do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or
the code—we would be grateful if you could report this to us. By doing so, you can
save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this
book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.
com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the Errata Submission Form
link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your
submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded to our website or added
to any list of existing errata under the Errata section of that title.

To view the previously submitted errata, go to https://www.packtpub.com/books/

content/support and enter the name of the book in the search field. The required
information will appear under the Errata section.

[ ix ]
Preface

Piracy
Piracy of copyrighted material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all
media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously.
If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the Internet, please
provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can
pursue a remedy.

Please contact us at copyright@packtpub.com with a link to the suspected

pirated material.

We appreciate your help in protecting our authors and our ability to bring you
valuable content.

Questions
If you have a problem with any aspect of this book, you can contact us at
questions@packtpub.com, and we will do our best to address the problem.

[x]
 Introducing Interactive
Plotting
A picture is worth a thousand words

The goal of any interactive application is to provide as much information as possible

while minimizing complexity. If it can't provide the information the users need,
then it is useless to them. However, if the application is too complex, then the
information's signal gets lost in the noise of the complexity. A graphical presentation
often strikes the right balance.

The Matplotlib library can help you present your data as graphs in your application.
Anybody can make a simple interactive application without knowing anything about
draw buffers, event loops, or even what a GUI toolkit is. And yet, the Matplotlib
library will cede as much control as desired to allow even the most savvy GUI
developer to create a masterful application from scratch. Like much of the Python
language, Matplotlib's philosophy is to give the developer full control, but without
being stupidly unhelpful and tedious.

Installing Matplotlib
There are many ways to install Matplotlib on your system. While the library used
to have a reputation for being difficult to install on non-Linux systems, it has come
a long way since then, along with the rest of the Python ecosystem. Refer to the
following command:
$ pip install matplotlib
Introducing Interactive Plotting

Most likely, the preceding command would work just fine from the command line.
Python Wheels (the next-generation Python package format that has replaced "eggs")
for Matplotlib are now available from PyPi for Windows and Mac OS X systems.
This method would also work for Linux users; however, it might be more favorable
to install it via the system's built-in package manager.

While the core Matplotlib library can be installed with few dependencies, it is a
part of a much larger scientific computing ecosystem known as SciPy. Displaying
your data is often the easiest part of your application. Processing it is much more
difficult, and the SciPy ecosystem most likely has the packages you need to do that.
For basic numerical processing and N-dimensional data arrays, there is NumPy.
For more advanced but general data processing tools, there is the SciPy package
(the name was so catchy, it ended up being used to refer to many different things
in the community). For more domain-specific needs, there are "Sci-Kits" such as
scikit-learn for artificial intelligence, scikit-image for image processing, and
statsmodels for statistical modeling. Another very useful library for data processing
is pandas.

This was just a short summary of the packages available in the SciPy ecosystem.
Manually managing all of their installations, updates, and dependencies would be
difficult for many who just simply want to use the tools. Luckily, there are several
distributions of the SciPy Stack available that can keep the menagerie under control.
The following are Python distributions that include the SciPy Stack along with
many other popular Python packages or make the packages easily available through
package management software:

• Anaconda from Continuum Analytics

• Canopy from Enthought
• SciPy Superpack
• Python(x, y) (Windows only)
• WinPython (Windows only)
• Pyzo (Python 3 only)
• Algorete Loopy from Dartmouth College

For this book, we will assume at least Python 2.7 or 3.2. The requisite
packages are numpy, matplotlib, basemap, and scipy. Just about
any version of these packages released in the past 3 years should work
for most examples in this book (exceptions are noted in this book). The
version 0.14.0 of SciPy (released in May 2014) cannot be used in this book
due to a (now fixed) regression in its NetCDF reader. Chapter 5, Embedding
Matplotlib will have special notes with regards to GUI toolkit packages.

[2]
 Chapter 1

Show() your work

With Matplotlib installed, you are now ready to make your first simple plot.
Matplotlib has multiple layers. Pylab is the topmost layer, often used for quick
one-off plotting from within a live Python session. Start up your favorite Python
interpreter and type the following:
>>> from pylab import *
>>> plot([1, 2, 3, 2, 1])

Nothing happened! This is because Matplotlib, by default, will not display anything
until you explicitly tell it to do so. The Matplotlib library is often used for automated
image generation from within Python scripts, with no need for any interactivity.
Also, most users would not be done with their plotting yet and would find it
distracting to have a plot come up automatically. When you are ready to see your
plot, use the following command:
>>> show()

Interactive navigation
A figure window should now appear, and the Python interpreter is not available
for any additional commands. By default, showing a figure will block the execution
of your scripts and interpreter. However, this does not mean that the figure is not
interactive. As you mouse over the plot, you will see the plot coordinates in the
lower right-hand corner. The figure window will also have a toolbar:

From left to right, the following are the tools:

• Home, Back, and Forward: These are similar to that of a web browser.
These buttons help you navigate through the previous views of your plot.
The "Home" button will take you back to the first view when the figure was
opened. "Back" will take you to the previous view, while "Forward" will
return you to the previous views.

[3]
Introducing Interactive Plotting

• Pan (and zoom): This button has two modes: pan and zoom. Press the left
mouse button and hold it to pan the figure. If you press x or y while panning,
the motion will be constrained to just the x or y axis, respectively. Press the
right mouse button to zoom. The plot will be zoomed in or out proportionate
to the right/left and up/down movements. Use the X, Y, or Ctrl key to
constrain the zoom to the x axis or the y axis or preserve the aspect ratio,
respectively.
• Zoom-to-rectangle: Press the left mouse button and drag the cursor to a new
location and release. The axes view limits will be zoomed to the rectangle
you just drew. Zoom out using your right mouse button, placing the current
view into the region defined by the rectangle you just drew.
• Subplot configuration: This button brings up a tool to modify plot spacing.
• Save: This button brings up a dialog that allows you to save the current
figure.

The figure window would also be responsive to the keyboard. The default keymap
is fairly extensive (and will be covered fully later), but some of the basic hot keys are
the Home key for resetting the plot view, the left and right keys for back and forward
actions, p for pan/zoom mode, o for zoom-to-rectangle mode, and Ctrl + s to trigger
a file save. When you are done viewing your figure, close the window as you would
close any other application window, or use Ctrl + w.

Interactive plotting
When we did the previous example, no plots appeared until show() was called.
Furthermore, no new commands could be entered into the Python interpreter until
all the figures were closed. As you will soon learn, once a figure is closed, the plot
it contains is lost, which means that you would have to repeat all the commands
again in order to show() it again, perhaps with some modification or additional plot.
Matplotlib ships with its interactive plotting mode off by default.

There are a couple of ways to turn the interactive plotting mode on. The main way
is by calling the ion() function (for Interactive ON). Interactive plotting mode can
be turned on at any time and turned off with ioff(). Once this mode is turned on,
the next plotting command will automatically trigger an implicit show() command.
Furthermore, you can continue typing commands into the Python interpreter. You
can modify the current figure, create new figures, and close existing ones at any time,
all from the current Python session.

[4]
 Chapter 1

Scripted plotting
Python is known for more than just its interactive interpreters; it is also a fully fledged
programming language that allows its users to easily create programs. Having a
script to display plots from daily reports can greatly improve your productivity.
Alternatively, you perhaps need a tool that can produce some simple plots of the data
from whatever mystery data file you have come across on the network share. Here is
a simple example of how to use Matplotlib's pyplot API and the argparse Python
standard library tool to create a simple CSV plotting script called plotfile.py.

Code: chp1/plotfile.py
#!/usr/bin/env python

from argparse import ArgumentParser

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

if __name__ == '__main__':
parser = ArgumentParser(description="Plot a CSV file")
parser.add_argument("datafile", help="The CSV File")
# Require at least one column name
parser.add_argument("columns", nargs='+',
help="Names of columns to plot")
parser.add_argument("--save", help="Save the plot as...")
parser.add_argument("--no-show", action="store_true",
help="Don't show the plot")
args = parser.parse_args()

plt.plotfile(args.datafile, args.columns)
if args.save:
plt.savefig(args.save)
if not args.no_show:
plt.show()

Note the two optional command-line arguments: --save and --no-show. With the
--save option, the user can have the plot automatically saved (the graphics format is
determined automatically from the filename extension). Also, the user can choose not
to display the plot, which when coupled with the --save option might be desirable if
the user is trying to plot several CSV files.

When calling this script to show a plot, the execution of the script will stop at the
call to plt.show(). If the interactive plotting mode was on, then the execution of
the script would continue past show(), terminating the script, thus automatically
closing out any figures before the user has had a chance to view them. This is why
the interactive plotting mode is turned off by default in Matplotlib.

[5]
Introducing Interactive Plotting

Also note that the call to plt.savefig() is before the call to plt.show(). As
mentioned before, when the figure window is closed, the plot is lost. You cannot
save a plot after it has been closed.

Getting help
We have covered how to install Matplotlib and went over how to make very simple
plots from a Python session or a Python script. Most likely, this went very smoothly
for you. The rest of this book will focus on how to use Matplotlib to make an
interactive application, rather than the many ways to display data. You may be very
curious and want to learn more about the many kinds of plots this library has to
offer, or maybe you want to learn how to make new kinds of plots.

Help comes in many forms. The Matplotlib website (http://matplotlib.org)

is the primary online resource for Matplotlib. It contains examples, FAQs, API
documentation, and, most importantly, the gallery.

Gallery
Many users of Matplotlib are often faced with the question, "I want to make a plot
that has this data along with that data in the same figure, but it needs to look like
this other plot I have seen." Text-based searches on graphing concepts are difficult,
especially if you are unfamiliar with the terminology. The gallery showcases the
variety of ways in which one can make plots, all using the Matplotlib library. Browse
through the gallery, click on any figure that has pieces of what you want in your
plot, and see the code that generated it. Soon enough, you will be like a chef, mixing
and matching components to produce that perfect graph.

Mailing lists and forums

When you are just simply stuck and cannot figure out how to get something to work
or just need some hints on how to get started, you will find much of the community
at the Matplotlib-users mailing list. This mailing list is an excellent resource of
information with many friendly members who just love to help out newcomers.
Be persistent! While many questions do get answered fairly quickly, some will
fall through the cracks. Try rephrasing your question or with a plot showing your
attempts so far. The people at Matplotlib-users love plots, so an image that shows
what is wrong often gets the quickest response. A newer community resource is
StackOverflow, which has many very knowledgeable users who are able to answer
difficult questions.

[6]
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
all that abundance had been but an uncomfortable load, as we by
our sins had deserved and was threatened, and yet for all this plenty
corn was at an extreme rate, and they boast among themselves now
they can keep their corn as long as they list and no fear of moulding,
he thinks fit this man be made an example that others may fear to
offend in the like kind. And assenteth to his fine to be 100 marks,
and thinks fit, seeing he hath ground the faces of the poor, he
should therefore help to seal them again, and pay 10l. to the poor;
and the rest of the former sentence he assented unto. The Earl of
Danby consented to the sentence in all, adding that he should pay
but 10l. to the poor, and to stand likewise upon the pillory at the
Palace, because some of all countries might take notice thereof.
The Earl of Dorset concurred in his sentence with the Earl of Danby,
and commended my Lord Keeper and Mr. Attorney for their care and
pains in bringing him to justice, and wished that inquiry should be
made if the Justices of the Peace had made default in not visiting
the said Archer's barns. But as for the Earl of Warwick, Sir Thomas
Richardson had well declared that Lords and Peers of the Parliament
were exempted from the services of the said orders, and yet that the
Lord of Warwick out of his care had admonished him, etc.
Lord Privy Seal gave his sentence in few words, that Archer was
guilty by his own confession of a very great offence, and well worthy
the sentence aforesaid, and in full consented to it.
The Lord Keeper did affirm that it was indeed a good work to bring
this man forth to be here sentenced, but that it was brought about
by means of Justice Vernon, who informed him of the said Archer as
being the only man presented in all his circuit for offending in this
kind, and that to him this was to be attributed. He was of opinion,
that the said Archer was guilty of enhancing the price of corn by
keeping in his corn, as is confessed, in this time of scarcity, which
was not a scarcity made by God (for there was enough to be had at
dear prices and high rates). He affirmed the same to be an offence
as well against the common law as against some statutes, and also
he would not leave out against his Majesty's proclamation and
orders, for his Lordship held there was an aggravation to his offence.
And his Lordship declared further (and wished it might be taken
notice of, as well as of what had already been spoken, for that much
had been said that day of singular use and benefit for the
commonwealth), that these were no new opinions. And to that
purpose showed that in the old charge to the quest of inquiry in the
King's Bench, this enhancing the prices, not only of corn but of any
other commodities, was inquirable and to be there punished; also
[he] cited a statute whereby those that agree to keep up the price of
any commodities, agreeing to sell all at one price, and those that
raise false news to bring down the price of any commodities from
what they are justly worth, are punishable; as those that raised
news that there were great wars beyond sea, and there would be no
vent for cloth, and told the same in the country at Coxsall, for that
the prices of wools fell there, and they were punished for it. And his
Lordship vouched a precedent of one for procuring the raising the
price of a certain commodity, for which he was informed against in
the King's Bench, and though his Counsel alleged that he had done
nothing, he had but spoken, and his offence was in words only, yet
he was adjudged an enhancer for but advising the same. And [he]
vouched a statute or proclamation in the time of H. 8 for setting the
prices on corn, and the like orders and proclamations in the times of
E. 6, Queen Eliz. and King James, and agreed it to be well spoken by
the Earl of Dorset, that if any shall do any thing tending to
depopulation, over and besides his punishment, he shall be enjoined
to populate as much, as the said Framingham was: and vouched a
book case, where one complaining against another for letting down
a sea wall, so that not only his, but diverse other men's grounds
were surrounded, the judgment was given in the common pleas that
the plaintiff should recover his damages, and the defendant should
also make up the said wall at his costs and charges. And thereupon
his said Lordship consented to the highest censure against the said
Archer for his forestalling the market and keeping in his corn to the
enhancing of the price, to the great hurt of the common people,
especially the poor labourer: and committed Archer to the Fleet from
whence he came.
[302] i.e. Laud.
 SECTION V
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE
1. Letters Patent granted to the Cabots by Henry VII, 1496—2. The Merchant
Adventurers' Case for Allowing the Export of Undressed Cloth, 1514-36—3. The
Rise in Prices, the Encouragement of Corn growing, and the Protection of
Manufactures, c. 1549—4. Sir Thomas Gresham on the Fall of the Exchanges, 1558
—5. The Reasons why Bullion is Exported [temp. Eliz.]—6. The Italian Merchants
Explain the Foreign Exchanges, 1576—7. An Act Avoiding divers Foreign Wares
made by Handicraftsmen Beyond the Seas, 1562—8. An Act Touching Cloth
Workers and Cloth Ready Wrought to be Shipped over the Sea, 1566—9.
Incorporation of a Joint Stock Mining Company, 1568.—10. An Act for the Increase
of Tillage, 1571—11. Instructions for an English Factor in Turkey, 1582—12. The
Advantages of Colonies, 1583—13. Lord Burghley to Sir Christopher Hatton on the
State of Trade, 1587—14. A List of Patents and Monopolies, 1603—15. Instructions
Touching the Bill for Free Trade, 1604—16. The Establishment of a Company to
Export Dyed and Dressed Cloth in Place of the Merchant Adventurers, 1616—17.
Sir Julius Cæsar's proposals for Reviving the Trade in Cloths, 1616—18. The Grant
of a Monopoly for the Manufacture of Soap, 1623—19. The Statute of Monopolies,
1623-4—20. An Act for the Free Trade of Welsh Cloths, 1623-4—21. The Economic
Policy of Strafford in Ireland, 1636—22. Revocation of Commissions, Patents, and
Monopolies Granted by the Crown, 1639—23. Ordinance Establishing an Excise,
1643.

The attempts made between 1405 and 1660 to develop industry and
commerce are usually known as "the Mercantile System." But the
name is an unfortunate one. The mercantile system was not
specially mercantile; for, as preceding sections have shown,
government interference was not confined to matters of commerce;
nor was it a system, but a collection of opportunist expedients,
nearly all of which had been tried in preceding centuries. It is true,
however, that after the accession of Elizabeth, the efforts already
made under Henry VII and Henry VIII to foster commerce (see
Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik gegen Ende des Mittelalters) were
carried on with greater persistency and deliberation. It is from this
period, therefore, that the documents in this section are principally
drawn.
The most pressing economic problem in the middle of the sixteenth
century was the fall in the value of money, caused, principally, by the
influx of silver from America, but to a less extent by the debasement
of the currency, which led to a rise in prices (No. 3), and a
disturbance of the foreign exchanges (Nos. 4 and 5), and which
could be met to some small extent by calling in the base coin (Nos.
4 and 5). This the government did in 1560. In 1570, in its anxiety to
prevent the efflux of bullion, it took steps to impose a special tax on
all exchange transactions, but such a tax was really a tax on
banking, and its consequences, according to the business houses
concerned, were disastrous (No. 6). The most certain way, however,
of securing adequate supplies of bullion was thought to consist in
checking imports and encouraging exports (Nos. 3 and 5); and the
policy was strengthened by other considerations (No. 3). The
general policy under Elizabeth was to discourage imports in order to
prevent unemployment at home (Nos. 3 and 7), to encourage corn-
growing by allowing the export of wheat, except in times of scarcity,
on payment of a small duty (Nos. 3 and 10), and to encourage the
export of manufactured articles rather than of raw materials,
especially the export of dyed and finished cloth (Nos. 3, 8, 11 and
12), any interruption of which caused distress (No. 13). The policy
which had been pursued under Henry VIII threatened the vested
interests of the Merchants Adventurers, who complained that they
could not find markets for finished cloth (No. 2). In the reign of
James I a more ambitious attempt was made in the same direction,
and in 1614, when the abrupt dissolution of Parliament had left the
government in financial difficulties, a plan was initiated for
preventing the exportation of cloths not dyed and dressed in
England. As the Merchant Adventurers refused to be a party to it, a
new company was established to carry on the desired trade, and
was granted a charter in 1616 (No. 16). The result of this policy was
a tariff war with the Netherlands and acute distress at home, and,
after various suggestions for reviving trade had been made (No. 17),
the abandonment of the undertaking. The political motives of
mercantilism, as well as its economic aims, are illustrated by
Strafford's account of his policy in Ireland (No. 21). Of more
enduring importance, perhaps, than mercantilist schemes were the
development of Joint-Stock Companies (No. 9), the expansion of
commercial enterprize (No. 11), and the attempts to establish
colonies (No. 12).
Among the methods for fostering industry, and incidentally for
raising an unparliamentary revenue, the granting of patents and
monopolies holds an important place. These patents ranged from
grants of the sole conduct of important industries (Nos. 14 and 18)
to grants of trifling offices of profit and pensions (Nos. 14 and 22).
The reaction against the interference of the Crown with trade is
excellently expressed in the report of the Committee on "the Bill for
Free Trade" (No. 15), a document which, in spite of the fact that the
Bill was dropped, is of the highest economic and constitutional
importance (see Gardiner, Vol. I, pp. 188-190). It is concerned
primarily with monopolies enjoyed by trading companies, such as the
Company of Merchant Adventurers, the Eastland Company, and the
Russia Company. But its arguments apply a fortiori to patents
granted to individuals, and throw much light on the nature of the
economic opposition to the Stuarts. The effect of the attitude of
Parliament was seen later in the Act abolishing internal and local
restrictions on the trade in woollen cloths (No. 20), in the Statute of
Monopolies (No. 19), and in the revocation by Charles in 1639 of
patents granted during the period of personal government (No. 22).
The place occupied by monopolies in the Stuarts' fiscal system was
later, when the Civil War began, partially filled by the Excise (No.
23).
AUTHORITIES
There is no book covering the commercial history of the whole period. The most
useful works are:—Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik gegen Ende des Mittelalters;
Cunningham, English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, Part I; Scott,
Constitution and Finance of English Joint Stock Companies; Busch, England Under
the Tudors; Gardiner, History of England 1603-1642; Unwin, Industrial
Organization in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; Rogers, English
Industrial and Commercial Supremacy, and The Economic Interpretation of
History; Ehrenberg, Das Zeitalter der Fugger; Price, The English Patents of
Monopoly; Hewins, English Trade and Finance in the Seventeenth Century;
Kennedy, English Taxation, 1640-1799; Schmoller, Mercantilism (translated by
Ashley); Keith, Commercial Relations Between England and Scotland; Murray,
Commercial Relations Between England and Ireland; Beer, The Old Colonial
System; Durham, Relations of the Crown to Trade under James I (Trans. R.H.S.,
New Series, Vol. XIII).
The student may also consult the following:—
(1) Documentary Sources:—Gairdner, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII; S.P. Dom.
from 1558 to 1660; The Acts of the Privy Council; The Commons Journals; and the
Statutes of the Realm, which are particularly instructive on the subject of
commercial policy. An invaluable collection of documents is given by Schanz, op.
cit., Vol. II; and useful, though smaller ones, by Scott, Price, Cunningham, and
Unwin.
(2) Literary Sources:—Starkey, Dialogue Between Cardinal Pole and Thomas
Lupset; The Italian Narration of England (Camden E.E.T.S. Society, 1847); Dudley,
The Tree of Commonwealth (1509); Drei Volkswirtschaftliche Denkschriften aus
der Zeit Heinrich VIII von England, edited by Pauli; The Commonwealth of this
Realm of England; Wilson, Discourse upon Usury (1572); Malynes, A Treatise of
the Canker of England's Commonwealth (1601); Wheeler, Treatise of Commerce
(1601); Malynes, Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria (1622); Misselden, Free Trade
(1622); Bacon, History of King Henry VII (1622); Knowler, Letters and Despatches
of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford; Robinson, England's Safety in Trade's
Increase (1641).

1. Letters Patent Granted to the Cabots by Henry VII [R.O. Pat. 4 Ed.
VI, p. 6], 1496.
The King to all to whom, etc., greeting. It is manifest to us by
inspection of the rolls of our Chancery that the lord Henry the
Seventh, late King of England, our dearest grand father, caused his
letters patent to be made in these words:
Henry by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord of
Ireland, to all to whom the present letters shall come, greeting. Be it
known and manifest that we have given and granted, and by these
presents we do give and grant for us and our heirs to our beloved
John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and Lewis, Sebastian and Sanctus,
sons of the said John, and the heirs and deputies of them and every
of them, full and free authority, faculty and power to sail to all parts,
regions and gulfs of the sea, east, west and north, under our
banners, standards, and ensigns, with five ships or boats of
whatsoever portage or kind they be, and with as many sailors and
men as they wish to take with them in the said ships at their own
and the others' costs and expenses, to find, discover and search out
any isles, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels
whomsoever set in any part of the world soever, which have been
before these times unknown to all Christians. We have granted also
to the same and to every of them and to the heirs and deputies of
them and every of them, and given licence for them to affix our
aforesaid banners and ensigns in any town, castle, isle or solid land
soever newly found by them; and that the aforenamed John and his
sons or heirs and the deputies of the same may subjugate, occupy
and possess any such towns, castles and islands found by them
which can be subjugated, occupied and possessed, as our vassals
and governors, lieutenants and deputies of the same, acquiring for
us the lordship, title and jurisdiction of the same towns, castles,
islands and solid land so found; so, nevertheless, that of all fruits,
profits, emoluments, commodities, gains and obventions arising from
such voyages, the aforesaid John and his sons and heirs and their
deputies be held and bound to pay to us for every voyage, as often
as they touch at our port of Bristol, at which alone they are held and
bound to touch, after deducting the necessary costs and expenses
made by them, a fifth part of their capital gain made whether in
wares or in money; giving and granting to them and their heirs and
deputies that they be free and immune from all payment of customs
on all and singular goods and wares which they bring back with
them from those places so newly found. And further we have given
and granted to the same and to their heirs and deputies that all
lands, farms, isles, towns, castles and places whatsoever found by
them, as many as shall be found by them, may not be frequented or
visited by any other our subjects soever without licence of the
aforesaid John and his sons and their deputies, under pain of loss as
well of the ships or boats as of all goods whatsoever presuming to
sail to those places so found; willing and most straitly commanding
all and singular our subjects set as well on land as on sea that they
give good assistance to the aforesaid John and his sons and deputies
and show all their favour and aid as well in manning the ships or
boats as in provision of equipment and victuals to be bought for
their money and all other things to be provided for them to be taken
for the said voyage. In witness whereof we have caused these our
letters patent to be made. Witness myself at Westminster, 5 April in
the 11th year of our reign.
And we, because the letters aforesaid have been lost by mischance,
as the aforesaid Sebastian, appearing in person before us in our
Chancery, has taken a corporal oath, and that he will restore those
letters to us into the same our Chancery to be cancelled there, if he
shall find them hereafter, have deemed fit to exemplify by these
presents the tenour of the enrolment of the letters aforesaid, at the
request of the same Sebastian. In witness whereof these our letters,
etc. Witness the King at Westminster, 4 June.
2. The Merchant Adventurers' Case for Allowing the Export of Undressed
Cloth [Br. M. Cotton MS. Tib. D. VIII, f. 40[303]], 1514-1536.
Considerations alleged by the governor and fellowship of merchant
adventurers to prove how it were more for the universal wealth of
the realm of England to convey and send over the sea to the
markets accustomed cloths of all prices, not dressed nor shorn, than
cloths dressed and shorn.
First it is to be noted, marked and considered, that in few years after
the act of Parliament made, that no sort of cloths draped and made
within the realm of England being above the price of five marks
sterling the piece should be conveyed over the sea undressed and
unshorn, the same sort of cloths, which at that day were bought for
five marks, be now at this present day by the industry of the said
merchants uttering the said cloths sold within the realm for four
pounds sterling, which is a great enriching of the whole realm, so
that the said merchants think it to stand with reason and conscience,
that those sort of cloths, of four pounds the piece, ought to be
reputed and taken, in regard of the act, after cloths of five marks
the piece.
Item the merchants of those parts buying English cloths will in no
wise meddle with any cloths, that be dressed, unless they may have
them at a price far under the foot; for it is in experience daily, that
the merchants of England conveying over the sea a sort of cloths
every of them being of like length and goodness, whereof the one
half of them have dressed and shorn and the other half undressed
and unshorn, the said merchants shall sell those cloths being
undressed five shillings dearer in every cloth, than those that be
dressed; also those cloths undressed be meet and ready for every
man and the other dressed but only for one man, so that against
one cloth dressed the merchants of England shall sell five hundred
undressed, whereby it appeareth, that it were for the common weal
and great enriching to the realm of England to send over into those
parts all sorts of cloths undressed and but a singular and private
wealth to dress any such cloths; for there be many more in number,
that live by making of cloths and selling of the same, than there be
that live by dressing of cloths.
Item the common people of those parts, by whom the most part of
those cloths be consumed, do use in their garments sundry colours
not accustomed to be worn here in England, which colours cannot
be made, unless they buy their cloths undressed; for the dressing of
cloths here and there vary and alter so much, that the dressing will
take in manner none of their colours. And in case the merchants of
England should bring over such cloths dressed, they should not only
be undone in the sale of them, but also it were to be doubted, that
in brief time after they would wholly relinquish the buying and
wearing of any English cloths in those parts, which God defend.
Item there be certain coarse cloths named long Glemsters, and
notwithstanding their coarseness the King's Grace is paid for a cloth
and a third part in his custom; and if the buyer will cut off 6 or 8
yards of the said cloth, he may lawfully convey it over
notwithstanding the act, which should be a great loss in the sale and
an occasion that the strangers should not buy them, wherefore the
said governor and merchants say, that the said cloths ought of right
to pass for cloths under five marks the piece.
Item at this present day, our Lord be thanked, there is shipped and
conveyed out of England into those parts more number of cloths of
all sorts and there uttered sold and consumed, than ever hath been
in memory of man; and considering, cloth is now there in such high
estimation and hath so good vent, the said merchants think, under
correction, that it were not necessary, but an utter peril and danger,
to attempt them to any other purpose to alter them out of this good
trade, which our Lord continue.
Item the inhabitants of those parts by the make of English cloths in
frieze consume, waste and spend a great quantity and number of
them, which frieze undoubtedly after their using and wearing cannot
be made of English cloths dressed here, so that by the only means
thereof it should be a great diminution and decay to the common
weal of this realm, if the said act for dressing of cloths should take
place or effect.
Item the inhabitants of the realm of England have the buying and
selling of the wool, one with another, they have also the carding,
spinning, weaving, fulling and the first sale of such cloths, and the
inhabitants of those parts have only the dressing and shearing of
certain of the said cloths, whereby the inhabitants there been a little
relieved and a few number of them for a time set to work; yet by
means thereof the rulers and honest burgesses of the towns be
desirous to have the nation of England to haunt their said towns,
and entertain them with much familiarity and friendship. And it is
much to be feared and doubted, that if the realm of England should
all covet and they to have no relief nor comfort by the same, that
they of Antwerp and other places, studying their common weal,
would not only find means ways and occasions to expel the nation
from them, but also that no English cloths should be there
consumed nor sold, which our Lord defend.
[303] Quoted Schanz, Vol. II, pp. 571-3.

3. The Rise in Prices, the Encouragement of Corn-growing, and the

Protection of Manufactures [The Commonweal of this Realm of
England], c. 1549.
f. 17b-f. 20.
Knight. How can that be? What maketh it the matter what sort of
coin we have amongst ourselves, so it be current from one hand to
another, yea, if it were made of leather?
Doctor. Ye see, men commonly say so; but the truth is contrary; as
not only I could prove by common reason, but also that proof and
experience hath already declared the same. But now we do not
reason of the causes of these griefs, but what state of men be
grieved indeed by this dearth of things; and albeit I find every man
grieved by it in one thing or other, yet considering that, as many of
them as have wares to sell, do enhance as much in the price of all
things that they sell as was enhanced before in the price of things
that they must buy; as the merchant, if he buy dear, he will sell dear
again. So the artificers, as cappers, clothiers, shoemakers and
farriers, have respect large enough, in selling their wares, to the
price of victual, wool and iron, which they buy. I have seen a cap for
14d., as good as I can get now for 2s. 5d.; of cloth ye have heard
how the price is risen. Then a pair of shoes costeth me 12d. now,
that I have in my days bought a better for 6d. Then I can get never
a horse shod under 10d. or 12d. [now], where I have seen the
common price was 6d. for shoeing of a horse round, yea, and 8d. (at
the most) till now of late. I cannot, therefore, understand that these
men have greatest grief by this common and universal dearth, but
rather such as have their livings and stipends rated at a certainty, as
common labourers at 6d. the day, journeymen of all occupations,
serving men [at] 40s. the year, and gentlemen whose lands are let
out by them or their ancestors either for lives or for term of years,
so as they can not enhance the rent thereof though they would, and
yet have the price enhanced by them of every thing that they buy.
Yea the King's Highness, whereof we spake nothing all this while, as
he hath most of yearly revenues and that certain, so hath he most
lost by this dearth, and by the alteration especially of the coin. For
like as a man, that hath a great number of servants under him, if he
would grant that they should pay him [pins] weekly where [before]
they paid him [pence], I think he should be most loser himself. So
we be all but gatherers for the King's Majesty, that be his subjects;
we have but every man a poor living; the clear gains cometh for the
most [part] to the King's grace. Now if his Grace do take of us the
overplus of our getting in this new coin, where he was wont to be
paid in other good coin, I report me to you whether that will go as
far as the other, in proportion of his necessaries and of the Realm. I
think plainly no; for though his Highness might, within his own
realm, have things at his own price, as his Grace can not indeed
without great grudge of his magistrates and subjects; yea, since his
Majesty must have from beyond the seas many things necessary not
only for his Grace's household and ornaments, as well for his grace's
person and family, as of his horses, which [percase] might be by his
Grace somewhat moderated, but also for the furniture of his wars,
which by no means can be spared; as armour, and all kinds of
artillery, anchors, cables, pitch, tar, iron, steel, handguns,
gunpowder, and many other things more than I can reckon, which
his Grace must needs buy from beyond the seas, at the price the
stranger will set him them at. I pass over the enhancement of the
charges of his Grace's household, which is common to his grace with
all other noble men. [Therefore], I say, his Majesty hath most loss,
by this common dearth, of all other; and not only loss, but danger to
the Realm and all his subjects, if his Grace should want treasure to
purchase the said habiliments and necessaries for war, or to find
soldiers in time of need, which passeth all other private losses that
we spake of.
Capper. We hear say, that the King's Majesty maketh up his losses
that way by the gains which he hath by the mint another way. If that
be too short, he supplieth that lack by subsidies and impositions of
his subjects, so as his Grace can not lack, so long as his subjects
have it.
Doctor. You say well there. So long as the subjects have it, so it is
meet the King should have it; but what and they have it not? for
they cannot have it, when there is no treasure left within the realm.
And as touching the mint I account the profit much like as if a man
would take his wood up by the roots, to make [the more profit
thereof at one time, and ever after to lose] the profit that might
grow thereof yearly, or to pull the wool of his sheep by the root. And
as for the subsidies; how can they be large when the subjects have
little to depart with? and yet that way of gathering treasure is not
always most safe for the prince's surety; for we see many times the
profits of such subsidies spent in appeasing of the people that are
moved to sedition partly by occasion of the same....

f. 31b-f. 34.
Doctor. Mary, the first way [sc. to equalize the profits of tillage and
pasture-farming] is to make that wool be of as base a price [to] the
breeder thereof as the corn is; and that shall be, if you make alike
restraint of wools, for passing over the sea unwrought, as ye make
of corn. Ye have a law made that no corn shall pass over and it be
above a noble a quarter; if it be under ye give free liberty for it to
pass over; let wool be restrained likewise, for passing over, so long
as it is above 12s. 4d. the tod; and when it is under let it have free
passage; that is one way. Another is, to increase the custom of wool
that passeth over unwrought; and by that the price of it shall be
based to the breeders, and yet the price over the sea shall be never
the less. But that is increased in the price thereof [on] strangers
shall come unto the King's Highness; which is as profitable to the
Realm as though it came to the breeders, and might relieve them of
their subsidies. Thus far as touching the bringing down the price of
wools; now to the enhancing of the same price in corn, to be as
equivalent to the husbandman as wool should be. And that might be
brought to pass if ye will let it have as free passage over sea at all
times, as ye have now for wool.
Merchant. By the first two ways men would send less wool over sea
than they do now; and, by that way, the King's customs and profits
of his staple should be minished; by your latter way, the price of
corn should be much enhanced, wherewith men should be much
grieved.
Doctor. I wot well it would be dear at the first; but if I can persuade
you that it were reasonable it were so, and that the same could be
no hindrance to the Realm universally, but great profit to the same,
then I think we would be content it should be so; and as touching
the King's custom, I will speak afterward.
Merchant. I will grant, if you can show me that.
Doctor. I will essay it, albeit the matter be somewhat intricate, and
as I showed you before, at the first face will displease many; for
they will say, Would you make corn dearer than it is? Have you
dearth enough else without that? Nay I pray you find means to have
it better cheap, if it may be, it is dear enough already; and such
other like reasons would be said. But now let the husbandman
answer such men again. Have not the grazers raised the price of
your wools and pelts? and you merchant men, clothiers and cappers,
raised the price of your merchandize and wares over it was wont to
be in manner double? Is it not as good reason then I should raise
the price of my corn? What reason is it that you should be at large,
and I to be restrained? Either let us all be restrained together, or
else let us all be at like liberty. Ye may sell [your wool] over the sea,
your fells, your tallow, your cheese, your butter, your leather, which
riseth all by grazings, at your pleasure, and that for the dearest
penny ye can get for them. And I shall not send out my corn, except
it be at 10d. the bushel or under. That is as much to say, as we that
be husbandmen should not sell our wares, except it be for nothing,
or for so little we shall not be able to live thereof. Think you that if
the husbandman here did speak these words, that he did not speak
them reasonable?
Husbandman. I thank you with all my heart; for you have spoken in
the matter more than I could do myself, and yet nothing but that is
true. We felt the harm, but we wist not what was the cause thereof;
many of us saw, 12 years ago, that our profits was but small by the
ploughs; and therefore divers of my neighbours that had, in times
past, some two, some three, some four ploughs of their own, have
laid down, some of them [part, and some of them all] their teams,
and turned either part or all their arable ground into pasture, and
thereby have waxed very rich men. And every day some of us
encloseth a [plot] of his ground to pasture; and were it not that our
ground lieth in the common fields, intermingled one with another, I
think also our fields had been enclosed, of a common agreement of
all the township, long ere this time. And to say the truth, I, that
have enclosed little or nothing of my ground, could [never be able]
to make up my lord's rent were it not for a little breed of neat,
sheep, swine, geese, and hens that I do rear upon my ground;
whereof, because the price is somewhat round, I make more clear
profit than I do of all my corn; and yet I have but a bare living, by
reason that many things do belong to husbandry which now be
exceeding chargeable over they were in times past.
Capper. Though this reason of master doctor's here doth please you
well that be husbandmen, yet it pleaseth us that be artificers
nothing at all, which must buy both bread, corn and malt for our
penny. And whereas you, master doctor, say it were as good reason
that the husbandman would raise the price of his corn, and have as
free vent of the same over sea as we [do and have of our wares], I
cannot greatly deny that; but yet I say, that every man hath need of
corn, and so they have not of other wares so much.
Doctor. Therefore the more necessary that corn is, the more be the
men to be cherished that reared it; for if they see there be not so
much profit in using the plough as they see in other feats, think you
not that they will leave that trade, and fall to the other that they see
more profitable? as ye may perceive by the doings of this honest
man's neighbours, which have turned their arable land to pasture,
because they see more profit by pasture than by tillage. Is it not an
old saying in [Latin], honos alit artes, that is to say, profit or
advancement nourisheth every faculty; which saying is so true, that
it is allowed by the common judgement of all men. We must
understand also that all things that should be done in a common
wealth be not to be forced, or to be constrained by the straight
penalties of the law; but some so, and some other by allurement
and rewards rather. For what law can compel men to be industrious
in travail, and labour of their bodies, or studious to learn any science
or knowledge of the mind? to these things they may be well
provoked, encouraged, and allured, if they that be industrious and
painful be well rewarded for their pains, and be suffered to take
gains and wealth as reward of their labours. And so likewise [they]
that be learned, if they be advanced and honoured according to their
forwardness in learning, every man will then study either to be
industrious in bodily labour, or studious in things that pertain to
knowledge. Take this reward from them, and go about to compel
them by laws thereto, what man will plough or dig the ground, or
exercise any manual occupation wherein is any pain? Or who will
adventure over seas for any merchandise? or use any faculty
wherein any peril or danger should be, seeing his reward shall be no
more than his that sitteth still? But ye will percase answer me, that
all their rewards shall not be taken away, but part of it. Yet then you
must grant me, that as if all their rewards were taken from them, all
these faculties must needs decay; so if part of that reward be
minished, the use of those faculties shall minish withall, after the
rate; and so they shall be the less occupied, the less they be
rewarded and esteemed. But now to our purpose; I think it more
necessary to devise a mean how husbandry might be more
occupied, rather than less, which I cannot perceive how it may be
brought to pass, but as men do see the more gains therein, the
gladder they will occupy the feat. And this to be true [that] some
things in a common wealth must be forced with pains and some by
rewards allured [may appear] by that that the wise and politic
senator Tully writeth, saying, that it was the words of Solon, which
was one of the seven men of Greece, and of those seven the only
man that made laws, that a common wealth was holden up by
things chiefly, that is, by reward and pain; of which words I gather
that men should be provoked to good deeds by rewards and price,
and [to] abstain from evil doings by pains. Trow you, if husbandmen
be not better cherished and provoked than they be to exercise to
plough, but in process of time so many ploughs will be laid down (as
I fear me there be already) that if an unfruitful year should happen
amongst, us, as commonly doth once in seven years, we should then
not have only dearth, but also such scarceness of corn, that we
should be driven to seek it from outward parts, and pay dear for it....

f. 34b-f. 38.
Doctor. You have heard that by the free vent and sale of corn, the
husbandman's profit is advanced. Then it is showed how every man
naturally will follow that wherein he seeth most profit. Therefore
men will the gladder occupy husbandry. And the more do occupy
husbandry, the more plenty of corn must needs be; and the more
plenty of corn there is, thereof better cheap; and also the more will
be spared over that that shall suffice the realm; and then, that may
be spared in a good year shall bring us again other corn, or else the
commodities of other countries necessary for us. Then the more
husbandry is occupied, the more universal breed should be of all
victuals, as of neat, sheep, swine, geese, eggs, butter, and cheese,
for all these are reared much of corn.
Knight. If men should sell, when a good reasonable year is, all that
is overplus when the realm is served, what should we do if a barren
year should happen, when no store of corn is left of the good year
before?
Doctor. First, you must consider that men be sure they will keep
enough to serve themselves within the realm, or they sell any forth
of the same; and having liberty to sell at their pleasure, doubt ye
not, but they had liefer sell their corn 2d. or 4d. better cheap within
the realm, than to be at charges with carrying, and peril of
adventure, in sending it over the sea, and sell it dearer (except it be
for much more gains). And thus men, being provoked with lucre, will
keep the more corn, looking for a dear year in the country, whereby
must need be the greater store. And though they did not so, but
should sell over the sea all that they might spare over that serveth
the realm when the year is plentiful, yet by reason that, through the
means aforesaid, more ploughs are set to work than would suffice
the realm in a plentiful year, if a scarce year should fall after, the
corn of so many ploughs, as in a good year would be more than
enough, in [an unfruitful] year at the least should be sufficient to
serve the realm. And so should the realm be served with enough of
corn in a scarce year, and in a plenteous year no more than enough,
which might be sold over the sea for great treasure or other
commodities; where now, in a plentiful year, we seek to have as
much as may suffice the realm. Then if a scarce year should happen,
we must needs lack of our own to serve, and be driven to buy from
beyond the sea. And then, if they were as envious as we are, might
they not say, when we required any corn of them, that seeing they
could get none from us, when we had plenty, why should they let us
have any corn when we have scarcity? Surely common reason would
that one region should help another when it lacketh. And therefore
God hath ordained that no country should have all commodities; but
that, that one lacketh, another bringeth forth, and that, that one
country lacketh this year, another hath plenty thereof the same year,
to the intent that one may know they have need of another's help,
and thereby love and society to grow amongst all the more. But here
we will do as though we had need of no other country in the earth,
but to live all of ourselves; and [as] though we might make the
market of all things as we list ourselves; for though God is bountiful
unto us and sendeth us many great commodities, yet we could not
live without the commodities of others. And, for an ensample, of iron
[and] salt, though we have competently thereof, yet we have not the
third part to suffice the realm; and that [can] in no wise be spared if
we will occupy husbandry. Then tar, resin, pitch, oil, steel, we have
none at all; as for wines, spices, linen cloth, silks, and collars,
though we might live so without them, yet far from any civility
should it be. As I deny not [but many things we might have here
sufficiently that we buy now beyond the seas, and] many things we
might spare wholly; whereof, if time shall serve, I will talk more
hereafter. But now to return to the first point that I spake of before,
to be one of the means to bring husbandry up, that is by abasing
the estimation of wool and fells; though I take not that way to be as
good as the other, for I do not allow that mean that may base any of
our commodities except it be for the enhancement of a better
commodity, but if both commodities may be enhanced together, as
by the last device I think they might be, I allow that way better;
nevertheless whereas you, brother merchant, showed before that
either by restraining of wools or other commodities, till they were
equivalent within the realm after the rate of the corn, or by
enhancing the custom of wool and other the said commodities, were
brought like to the corn in proportion, the King's Highness' custom
should be minished, I think not so. For the one way, as much as he
should have for the more wool vented over, so much should he have
for the less wool at a greater custom vented over. And the other way
is, as much as his Grace should lose by his custom of wool, so much
or more should his Grace win by the custom of clothes made within
the realm. But one thing I do note by this latter device, that if they
should take place, we must do; that is, if we keep within us much of
our commodities, we must spare many other things that we have
now from beyond the seas; for we must always take heed that we
buy no more of strangers than we sell them [for so we should
empoverish ourselves and enrich them]. For he were no good
husband that hath no other yearly revenues but of husbandry to live
on, that will buy more in the market than he selleth again. And that
is a point we might save much by of our treasure, in this realm, if we
would. And I marvel no man taketh heed unto it, what number first
of trifles cometh hither from beyond the seas, that we might either
clean spare, or else make them within our own realm, for the which
we pay inestimable treasure every year, or else exchange substantial
wares and necessary for them, for the which we might receive great
treasure. Of the which sort I mean glasses, as well looking as
drinking, as to glass windows, dials, tables, cards, balls, puppets,
penhorns, inkhorns, toothpicks, gloves, knives, daggers, pouches,
brooches, agletes, buttons of silk and silver, earthen pots, pins,
points, hawk's bells, paper both white and brown, and a thousand
like things, that might either be clean spared, or else made within
the realm sufficient for us. And as for some things, they make it of
our own commodities and send it us again; whereby they set their
people on work, and do exhaust much treasure out of this realm. As
of our wool they make cloth, caps, and carses; of our fells they
make Spanish skins, gloves, girdles; of our tin, salts, spoons and
dishes; of our broken linen cloth and rags, paper both white and
brown. What treasure, think you, goeth out of this realm for every of
these things? And then for all together it exceedeth my estimation.
There is no man that can be contented with any other gloves than is
made in France or in Spain; or carse, but it must be of Flanders dye;
nor cloth, but it must be of French dye or fresadow; nor brooch nor
aglet, but of Venice making or Milanese; nor dagger, sword, nor
girdle, or knife, but of Spanish making; no, not so much as a spur,
but it must be fetched at the milliner's hand. I have seen within
these twenty years, when there were not of these haberdashers that
sell French or Milan caps, glasses, as well looking as drinking, yea,
all manner vessels of the same stuff; painted cruses, gay daggers,
knives, swords, and girdles that is able to make any temperate man
to gaze on them, and to buy somewhat, though it serve to no
purpose necessary. What need they beyond the sea to travel to Peru
or such far country, or to try out the sands of the river Tagus in
Spain [Pactolus] in Asia and Ganges in India, to get amongst them
small sparks of gold, or to dig the bowels of the earth, for the mine
of silver and gold, when they can of unclean clay, not far sought for,
and of [pebble] stones and fern roots make [good] gold and silver
more than a great many of gold mines would make. I think not so
little as a hundred thousand pound a year is fetched of our treasure
for things of no value of themselves, but only for the labours of the
workers of the same, which are set on work all of our charges. What
grossness be we of, that see it and suffer such a continual spoil to
be made of our goods and treasure, by such means and specially,
that will suffer our own commodities to go, and set strangers on
work, and then to buy them again at their hands; as of our wool
they make and dye carses, fresadows, broadcloths, and caps beyond
the seas, and bring them hither to be sold again; wherein note, I
pray you, what they do make us pay at the end for our stuff again,
for the stranger custom, for the workmanship, and colours, and
lastly for the second custom in the return of the wares into the
realm again; whereas, with working the same within our realm, our
own men should be set on work at the charges of strangers; the
custom should be borne all by strangers to the king, and the clear
gains to remain within the realm....

f. 53b-f. 55.
And now, because we are entered into communication of artificers, I
will make this division of them. Some of them do but bring money
out of the country; some other, that which they do get, they spend
again in the country; and the third sort of artificers be they that do
bring treasure into the country. Of the first, I reckon all mercers,
grocers, vintners, haberdashers, milliners, and such as do sell wares
growing beyond the seas, and do fetch out our treasure of the same.
Which kind of artificers, as I reckon them tolerable, and yet are not
so necessary in a commonwealth but they might be best spared of
all other; yet if we had not other artificers, to bring in as much
treasure as they bring forth, we should be great losers by them. Of
the second sort be these: shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, masons,
tilers, butchers, brewers, bakers, victuallers of all sorts, which like as
they get their living in the country, so they spend it; but they bring
in no treasure unto us. Therefore we must [cherish] well the third
sort; and these be clothiers, tanners, cappers, and worsted makers
only that I know, [which] by their misteries and faculties, do bring in
any treasure. As for our wool, fells, tin, lead, butter and cheese,
these be the commodities that the ground bears, requiring the
industry of a few persons; and if we should only trust to such, and
devise nothing else to occupy ourselves, a few persons would serve
us for the rearing of such things, and few also [it would] find; and so
should the realm be like a [grange], better furnished with beasts
than with men; whereby it might be subject to the spoil of other
nations about. Which is the more to be feared and eschewed,
because the country of his own kind is apt to bring forth such things,
as is said before, for the breed of cattle, than for such things as [be]
for the nourishment of men, if Pomponius Mela be to be believed,
which describing the island, saith thus: plana, ingens, fecunda,
verum iis que pecora quam homines benignius alunt. That is to say,
it is plain, large and plentiful, but of those things that nourisheth
beasts more kindly than men. So many forests, chases, parks,
marshes and waste grounds, that be more here than most
commonly elsewhere, declare the same not to be all in vain that he
affirms; that hath not so much arable ground, vines, olives, fruits,
and such as be most necessary for the food of men. And as they
require many hands in the culture, so they find most persons food;
as France, Spain and divers other countries have. Therefore as much
ground, as here is apt for those things, would be [turned] (as much
as may be) to such uses as may find most persons. And over that,
towns and cities would be replenished with all kinds of artificers; not
only clothiers which as yet were our natural occupation, but with
cappers, glovers, paper makers, glasiers, pointers, goldsmiths,
blacksmiths of all sorts, coverlet makers, needle makers, pinners and
such other; so as we should not only have enough of such things to
serve our realm, and save an infinite treasure that goeth now over
for so many of the same, but also might spare of such things ready
wrought to be sold over, whereby we should fetch again other
necessary commodities and treasures. And thus should be both
replenished the realm of people able to defend it, and also win much
treasure to the same. Such occupations alone do enrich divers
countries, that be else barren of themselves; and what riches they
bring to the country where they be well used, the country of
Flanders and Germany do well declare; where, through such
occupations, it hath so many and wealthy cities, that were incredible
in so little ground to be. Wherefore in my mind they are far wide of
right consideration, that would have none or less clothing within the
realm, because it is sometimes occasion of business or tumults, for
lack of vent. There is nothing every way so commodious or
necessary for men's use, but it is sometime by ill handling occasion
of displeasure; no, not fire and water, that be so necessary as
nothing can be more.
4. Sir Thomas Gresham on the Fall of the Exchanges [Burgon's Life and
Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, Vol. I, Appendix No. XXI, pages 483-
486]. 1558.
To the Queen's most excellent Majesty.
It may please your Majesty to understand, that the first occasion of
the fall of the exchange did grow by the King's Majesty, your late
father, in abasing his coin from vi ounces fine to iii ounces fine.
Whereupon the exchange fell from xxvis. viiid. to xiiis. ivd. which
was the occasion that all your fine gold was conveyed out of this
your realm.
Secondly, by the reason of his wars, the King's Majesty fell into great
debt in Flanders. And for the payment thereof they had no other
device but pay it by exchange, and to carry over his fine gold for the
payment of the same.
Thirdly, the great freedom of the Steelyard and granting of licence
for the carrying of your wool and other commodities out of your
realm, which is now one of the chief points that your Majesty hath to
foresee in this your common weal; that you never restore the steads
called the Steelyard again to their privilege, which hath been the
chief point of the undoing of this your realm, and the merchants of
the same.
Now, for redress of these things, in an. xvcli [1551] the King's
Majesty, your late brother, called me to be his agent, and reposed a
more trust in me, as well for the payment of his debts beyond the
seas, as for the raising of the exchange, being then at xvs. and xvis.
the pound; and your money current, as it is at this present, being
not in value xs. First, I practised with the King and my lord of
Northumberland to overthrow the Steelyard, or else it could not be
brought to pass, for that they would keep down the exchange by
this consideration; whereas your own merchants payeth outwards
xivd. upon a cloth custom, they pay but ixd.; and likewise, for all
such wares as was brought into your realm, your own mere
merchants payeth xiid. upon the pound, the Steelyard paid but iiid.
upon the pound, which is vs. difference upon the hundredth: and as
they were men that ran all upon the exchange for the buying of their
commodities, what did they pass to give a lower price than your own
merchants, when they got vl. in the hundred by your custom? Which
in process of time would have undone your whole realm, and your
merchants of the same.
Secondly, I practised with the King's Majesty, your brother, to come
in credit with his own mere merchants: and when time served, I
practised with them at a set shipping, the exchange being still at
xvis., that every man should pay the King xvs. upon a cloth in
Antwerp, to pay at double usage xxs. in London; which the King's
Majesty paid them royally, which did amount to the sum of lxml. And
so, vi months after, I practised the like upon their commodities for
the sum of lxxml. [£70,000] to pay for every pound sterling xxiis.: so
by this means, I made plenty of money, and scarcity, and brought
into the King's hands, which raised, the exchange to xxiiis. ivd. And
by this means I did not only bring the King's Majesty, your brother,
out of debt, whereby I saved him vi or viis. upon the pound, but
saved his treasure within the realm, as therein Mr. Secretary Cecil
was most privy unto.
Thirdly, I did likewise cause all foreign coins to be unvalued,
whereby it might be brought into the mint to his Majesty's most
fordle[304]; at which time the King your brother died, and for my
reward of service, the Bishop of Winchester sought to undo me, and
whatsoever I said in these matters I should not be credited: and
against all wisdom, the said Bishop went and valued the French
crown at vis. ivd., and the pistole at vis. iid., and the silver royal at
vid. ob. Whereupon, immediately, the exchange fell to xxs. vid. and
xxis., and there hath kept ever since. And so consequently after this
rate and manner, I brought the Queen's Majesty, your sister, out of
debt of the sum of ccccxxxvml. [£435,000].
Fourthly, by this it may plainly appear to your Highness, as the
exchange is the thing that eats out all princes, to the whole
destruction of their common weal, if it be not substantially looked
unto, so likewise the exchange is the chief and richest thing only
above all other, to restore your Majesty and your realm to fine gold
and silver, and is the mean that makes all foreign commodities and
your own commodities with all kind of victuals good cheap, and
likewise keeps your fine gold and silver within your realm. As, for
example to your Highness, the exchange being at this present at
xxiis., all merchants seek to bring into your realm fine gold and
silver; for if he should deliver it by exchange, he disburses xxiis.
Flemish to have xxs. sterling: and to bring it in gold and silver he
shall make thereof xxis. ivd.—whereby he saves viiid. in the pound:
which profit, if the exchange should keep but after this rate of xxiis.
in few years you should have a wealthy realm, for here the treasure
should continue for ever; for that all men should find more profit by
vl in the hundred to deliver it per exchange, than to carry it over in
money. So consequently the higher the exchange riseth, the more
shall your Majesty and your realm and common weal flourish, which
thing is only kept up by art and God's providence; for the coin of this
your realm doth not correspond in fineness not xs. the pound.
Finally, and it please your majesty to restore this your realm into
such state, as heretofore it hath been; first, your Highness hath no
other ways, but when time and opportunity serveth, to bring your
base money into fine of xi ounces fine, and so gold after the rate.
Secondly, not to restore the Steelyard to their usurped privileges.
Thirdly, to grant as few licences as you can.
Fourthly, to come in as small debt as you can beyond seas.
Fifthly, to keep up your credit, and specially with your own
merchants, for it is they must stand by you at all events in your
necessity. And thus I shall most humbly beseech your Majesty to
accept this my [poor writing in good] part; wherein I shall from time
to time, as opportunity doth serve, put your Highness in
remembrance, according to the trust your Majesty hath reposed in
me; beseeching the Lord to give me the grace and fortune that my
service may always be acceptable to your Highness; as knoweth our
Lord, whom preserve your noble Majesty in health, and long to reign
over us with increase of honour.
By your Majesty's most humble and faithful obedient subject,
Thomas
Gresham,
Mercer.
[304] i.e. Fordeal, or advantage.

5. The Reasons Why Bullion is Exported [Br. M. Cotton Ms. Otho. E. x.,
f. 145[305]], temp. Elizabeth.
Where the Queen's Majesty is moved, that for the staying of the
transportation of gold she will be pleased either to call in all gold by
proclamation and then to coin it anew again with more alloy, or else
that her Majesty should call in no gold, but coin new and utter them
at higher rate than now, it seemeth the matters intend, that it is
transported for the richness only, and, being either based by alloy or
dearly priced, no more would be transported.
But if all the true causes of this late transportation be considered,
that will not be sufficient to stay gold within.
The true causes, that it is transported, be these with others:
1. Some is carried into the Low Countries, because the exchange
hath been high and the gold of greater prices there than here.
2. These dear years much hath been carried out to buy corn with,
wherein somewhat endeavour hath been, because the return paid
no custom.
3. Very much hath been transported to provide foreign commodities,
because this realm spendeth more of them, than the same
commodities transported amount unto, as it is supposed and as may
be perceived by the wines, silks, lawns, gold-lace, silver-lace and
such like here spent.
4. Much is conveyed by strangers, that bring in their country
commodities and will not employ the price in English commodities,
because their customs be great.
5. The like is sometimes done by English merchants for the paying of
debts or providing of foreign commodities, for the saving of custom
outward being also great.
6. Much bullion hath been transported, because the merchants and
goldsmiths could not of long time have it coined and delivered in due
time out of the mint.
7. Some by captains, soldiers and others, that might not be
searched.
8. Some by the help of the mintmen in thirty-shilling-pieces upon
pretence to make great gain thereof to her Majesty.
The second cause will now cease of itself; the fourth, fifth, sixth and
eighth may be removed by good orders to be taken; the seventh by
peace amongst princes; the first will never be taken away further
than shall please the bankers and rich merchants of the Low
Countries, who joining with the rich Flemings dwelling will be able
with their money and cunning to make the exchange to rise and fall,
as they shall think good for their gain or our loss. And the governors
there, finding by their mint-masters and merchants the alteration of
the English standards and values of gold, being more vigilant,
provident and skilful in such matters than the English, will at their
pleasures cry up and down the currency of English coin, be it never
so base, at such times and in such manner as [the]y will, draw it
from home to their ... lnes and melt it or return it back at their
pleasures for their own gain and our loss, unless they will agree and
take order, that it shall be always current there at the same value
that it is here, without alteration.
But the third causa causarum being taken away, which is to be
wished for, although not to be hoped for in haste, all the rest and all
other like causes of transportation must need cease withall or at the
least do little hurt; for if England would spend less of foreign
commodities than the home commodities will pay for, then the
remain must of necessity be returned of silver or gold; but if
otherwise, then it will fare in England in short time as it doth with a
man of great yearly living, that spendeth more yearly than his own
revenue, and spendeth of the stock besides.
And so it is concluded, that for these reasons neither the baseing of
the standards nor the raising of the values of the coin of gold is like
to stay it from transportation.
[305] Quoted Schanz. op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 648-9.

6. The Italian Merchants Explain the Foreign Exchanges to Sir Thomas

Gresham and Other Royal Commissioners [Ms. of Lord Calthorpe, Vol. XX,
f. 68[306]], 1576.
Forasmuch as your worships have required, that we, the merchants
Italians, should show present your worships with more brevity, than
we have done afore, in what points doth grieve us the new
imposition and order, that hath been set upon the exchange,
although it is not easily utter it in few words, nevertheless we have
set it forth as briefly as we can.
Therefore it may please your worships to understand, that the
chiefest living and maintenance that we have is upon the
commissions that are sent unto us of our friends from beyond the
seas to sell foreign wares here in London and buy English wares for
to send over.
The trade of the foreign wares for England will much decay because
of the imposition and difficulty upon the exchange; for such our
friends, that did send such commodities as alum, woad, canvas,
silks, wines and other necessary things for the intent to reiterate
shortly after the sending hither such commodities, so soon as they
knew they were here arrived, did use to take up money by exchange
for London; and if the said wares were not sold or money not due,
they gave here commission to their factors to take it up by rechange
again; and so in time of an usage or double usage of Antwerp, an
usage or a fair at Lyons, this matter might be well compassed
without any great loss, and by this mean they might help themselves
with their money of their wares a great while before that it were
money in deed; but now that they shall know, that the exchange will
give them such loss by the payment of this fee besides the ordinary
interest that is used to come upon the exchange, they shall not be
able to continue this trade nor to reiterate so often the same.
Therefore there shall ensue a great diminishing of the Queen's
custom inwards, and that the English people shall pay the dearer for
the necessary foreign commodities, and we particularly shall remain
destitute of these commissions and factories.
We say likewise of the trade of others our commissioners, that did
use to send for English commodities as cloths and others being not
forbidden and inward, they send nothing or very little; for those, that
ought here to buy for themselves, might in two manners furnish the
money, the one causing money to be remitted unto them from
beyond the seas, and the other in taking money here in London by
exchange. Touching the first manner they shall lack much of that
help; for money shall not be remitted unto them, for because in
foreign places there shall be found no man that will take up money
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookname.com