dering which way he shall answer the necessary payments. But I have spoken so largely of that by itself, that I need not repeat it.

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CHAP. XXXI.

Of the tradesman's keeping his books, and casting his shop. A remarkable story of a man keeping his accounts in a large business, without being able to write. The necessity of exact book-keeping. Of balancing the cash-book. Cautions on this head necessary to be observed.

Exact bookkeeping indicates a man is determined to thrive, if possible; as negligence in this respect denotes the contrary. The credit a man gains in the former case, even though he prove unfortunate. Numberless lawsuits preventable by exact book-keeping. Next to taking care of his soul, a tradesman should take care of his books. The comfort of so doing in case of sudden illness, &c.

It was an ancient and laudable custom with tradesmen in England, once a year to balance their accounts of stock, and of profit and loss; by which means they could always tell whether they went backwards or forwards in the world; and this is called casting up shop; and indeed this is so necessary a thing to be done, that it is always to me a bad sign when it is omitted, and looks as if the tradesman was afraid of entering into a close examination of his affairs.

As casting up his shop is of great importance to

a tradesman, so he must cast up his books too, or else it carries a very ominous face with it.

Now, in order to do this effectually once a year, it is needful the tradesman should keep his books always in order; his day-book duly posted, his cash duly balanced, and every one's accounts always fit for a view; he that delights in his trade, will delight in his books; and, as I have already laid it down for a rule, that he who will thrive must diligently attend his shop or warehouse, and take up his delight there, so I say now, he must also diligently keep his books, or else he will never know whether he thrives or not.

Exact keeping his books is one essential part of a tradesman's prosperity; the books are the register of his estate, the index of his stock; all the tradesman has in the world must be found in these three articles, or some of them ;

Goods in the shop; money in cash; debts abroad. The shop will at any time show the first of these, upon a small stop to cast it up; the cash-chest and bill-box will show the second at demand; and the ledger, when posted, will show the last; so that a tradesman can at any time, at a week's notice, cast up all these three; and then examine his accounts, to take the balance, which is a real trying what he is worth in the world.

It cannot be satisfactory to any tradesman to let his books go unsettled, and uncast up; for then he knows nothing of himself, or of his circumstances in the world; the books can tell him at any time what his condition is, and will satisfy him what is the condition of his debts abroad.

In order to his regular keeping his books, several things may be said very useful for the tradesman to consider :

1. Everything done in the whole circumference

of his trade must be set down in a book, except the retail trade; and this is clear, if the goods are not in bulk, then the money is in cash, and so the substance will be always found either there, or somewhere else; for if it is neither in the shop, nor in the cash, nor in the books, it must be stolen or lost.

2. As everything done must be set down in the books, so it should be done at the very time of it; all goods sold must be entered into the books before they are sent out of the house; goods sent away, and not entered, are goods lost; and he that does not keep an exact account of what goes out and comes in, can never swear to his books, or prove his debts, if occasion calls for it.

That tradesman who keeps no books, may depend upon it he will ere long keep no trade, unless he resolves also to give no credit; he that gives no trust, and takes no trust, either by wholesale or retail, and keeps his cash all himself, may indeed go on without keeping any book at all, and has nothing to do, when he would know his estate, but to cast up his shop and his cash, and see how much they amount to, and that is his whole and neat estate; for, as he owes nothing, so nobody is in debt to him, and all his estate is in his shop; but I suppose the tradesman who trades wholly thus, is not yet born.

A tradesman's books, like a Christian's conscience, should always be kept clean and neat; and he that is not careful of both, will give but a sad account of himself either to God or man.

I heard of a tradesman indeed that could not write, and yet he supplied the defect with so many ingenious knacks of his own, to secure the account of what people owed him, and was so exact in doing it, and then took such care to have but very short accounts with anybody, that he brought this method to be every way an equivalent to writing; and, as

he was often told, with half the study and application that those things cost him, he might have learned to write, and keep books too; he made notches upon sticks for all the middling sums, and scored with chalk for lesser things; he had drawers for every particular customer's name, which his memory supplied; for he knew every particular drawer, though he had a great many, as well as if their faces had been painted upon them; he had innumerable figures to signify what he would have written, if he could; and his shelves and boxes always put people in mind of the Egyptian hierogly. phics, and nobody understood anything of them but himself.

It was an odd thing to see him, when a country chap came up to settle accounts with him; he would go to a drawer directly, among such a number as was amazing; in that drawer was nothing but little pieces of split sticks, like laths with chalk marks on them, all as unintelligible as the signs of the zodiack to an old schoolmistress who teaches the hornbook; every stick had notches on one side for single pounds, on the other side for tens of pounds, and so higher; and the length and breadth also had its signification, and the colour too; for they were painted in some places with one colour, and in some places with another; by which he knew what goods had been delivered for the money; and his way of casting up was very remarkable; for he knew nothing of figures, but he kept six spoons in a place on purpose, near his counter, which he took out when he had occasion to cast up any sum, and laying the spoons on a row before him, he counted upon them thus :—

One, two, three, and another; one odd spoon, and t'other.

By this he told up to six; if he had any occasion to tell any further he began again, as we do after the number ten in our ordinary numeration; and by this method, and running them up very thick, he would count any number under thirty-six, which was six spoons of six spoons; and then by the strength of his head he could number as many more as he pleased, multiplying them always by sixes, but never higher.

This tradesman was indeed a country shopkeeper, but he was so considerable a dealer that he became mayor of the place which he lived in; and his posterity have been very considerable traders there ever since, and they show their great grandfather's six counting spoons and his hieroglyphics to this day.

After some time, the old tradesman bred up two of his sons to his business, and the young men, having learned to write, brought books into the counting-house, things their father had never used before; but the old man kept to his old method for all that, and would cast up a sum, and make up an account, with his spoons and his drawers, as soon as they could with their pen and ink, if it was not too full of small articles; and that he had always avoided in his business.

However, this evidently shows the necessity of book-keeping to a tradesman; and the very nature of the thing evidences also, that it must be done with the greatest exactness. He that does not keep his books exactly, and so as that he may depend upon them for charging his debtors, had better keep no books at all; but, like my shopkeeper, score and notch everything; for as books well kept make business regular, easy, and certain, so books neglected turn all into confusion, and leave the tradesman in a wood, which he can never get out of without