Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1813-04-12
foR THE GAzHrTE
THE ECONOMIST-No /


On the inheritance attached 10 MoNEr;
The misery attending he Uanf of a.;
with some useful rules from tracncat
zvriters, hov 10 accumulate h,oherty,
she7id TO the 6est Advantage, and 10
keel. a benny in ones fockf.
Most people, il is presumed, especial
ly in the present iron I'm, s, will be ready
enough to admit the utility of money,
that is a competent share OF it !; though
an undue affection or regard for which,
IS, as tile sacred text declares, the roof
Of all epif. Like other temporal thugs,
though in pre-. eminen, degree, money
seems only TO be curse, when II "a
bounds to excess, or when the objections
of the heart OF its possessor are fixed up
on il. he excessive want of IL, Is also
dreadful calamity both which exces-
ses, though opposite, have direct ten.
dency 10 demoralize & corruIa The heart
OF mortais. These points being estsb
iished, and they challenge contradiction,
how spontaneously will each ,irtuous
and enlightened person excisim, in the
language of one of old, Lord, give me
neither fioverty nor riches" sc.
Yet, as the times now are, Money be.
ing the Grand Lama Of worldly adora-
ton, or the golden god which he vota
ries OF Mammon impiously worship,
and which forms the STANDARD of the
character of man, in the estimation oil
the world-beiore giving any definite
rules, for the acquisition OF the iavors OF
this coy being, abused by some, and
oourted by al shall give brief ssetch
Of its history and then illustrate, by
few. examples, the difference between
having money and having none, that
people may guard against the evils re.
sulting from both extremes and the
destitute, by beholding the sore evil OF
wanting money, be excited to habits OF
diligence and economy {; which, it stea-
Oily persevered in, in some proper call.
ing, will place them above want, in the
common acceptation of the word, II not
shield them from the contempt and in.
science oitheir more opulent neighbors.
With regard to the history Of Money,
il seems 10 be of great antiquity. Jo-
sephus tells us. that Cain, the son OF
Adam the first, was very greedy OF
gathering it ;though he is silent, as to
the Kind Of metal, OF which it was made,
and whether it was coined or not. Her.
odotus writes, that the -ybians were
the first who coined silver and gold to
buy and sell with. But Homer tells US,
that before the siege of Troy, men car
ried on their traffic by barter. 1t is un.
deniable, however. that money was In
use long before that time. For when
Abraham purchased the cave and field
of Machpelah, for burying ground, he
gave 4oc shekels of silver for il, which
scripture informs US, was current mon.
ey with fhe merchant ; and this about
the year OF the world 2o8s, nearly 700
years before the destruction OF Troy.
But though the money was current with
the merchant, yet it is doubtful, at least,
whether il was coined or not for II
rather appears that il received its value
from its weight, than from any stamp
that was upon it. The weight Of a
shekel WAS quarter of an ounce, and
j value fifteen pence Eng ish money.
Mention is also made, in the Old
Testament. OF fieces Of SILVER, otherwise
called situerings, which were current
among the nations at that day. See
Abraham's correspondence with Adj
melech, King of Gerar, Gen. XXth CHI
The value Of piece of silver, here
mentioned, was go pence English,
But besides shekels and silverings,
there were talents also, the weight OF
which was $50 ounces. A talent of
silver (for there were also talents OF
gold) contained the value of 1877 pounds,
10 shillings.