And if so, then it is to be suspected that the Price of all staple Commodities have encreased in equal Proportion, or that they are in such a Proportion now higher than they wou’d have been; for Gold and Silver being reciprocally the Standards and Measures of Proportion of one another, are so of every thing else; and if I can now buy as many Ounces and Peny-Weights of Silver for a Guinea, as I could have done formerly, then is not Silver Risen more than Gold: and if I can buy as many Grains of Gold now with an Ounce of Silver as I could formerly, then is not Gold risen more than Silver. And this is, perhaps more than a Supposition: For when Silver was 5 _s._ an Ounce, I cou’d buy 4 Ounces 6 Peny-wt. with a Guinea, and so I can now, that Silver is 6 _s._ 6 _d._ _per_ Ounce. Again when Gold was about 3 _l._ 14 _s._ an Ounce, I cou’d buy an Ounce of Gold with 15 Ounces of Silver, and so I can now, or near the Matter: So that the Commodities of Gold and Silver answer one another as they did, or near thereabout, abating only for the Portableness of Gold and its Coinage; whereas no Coinage is now allowable for those Pieces of Silver wherein the Coinage is defaced and spoiled; and if those two Commodities are so much higher than they would have been: For they are the Measure and Rule of Proportion of all. Then when the Value of Gold and Silver rises, the intrinsic Value of all Commodities rise with ’em:
For suppose an _Eastland_ or _Hamburgh_ Merchant brings over a Barrel of Mum, which he (when our Money was old Standard) sold for 3 _l._ he disliking our Money now, sells his Mum, not according to the extrinsic Valuation of our Money, which is risen since he was here last; because the Intrinsic is diminished, but according to the common Value of Gold and Silver in the World; and therefore requires now 4 _l._ because he judges our Silver to be a fourth Part worse than it was, or if at 5 _l._ he judges it to be 2 Parts in 5 worse.
Again, suppose he sells his Mum for Gold, or is to exchange his Silver for Gold, that which he was wont to sell for 3 Guineas, he expects 3 Guineas for still; or if you are to pay him in Silver, he expects as much as he can change for 3 Guineas, he wo’nt be fobb’d off with less: So the Merchant sells as cheap as ever; but we pay more, because what we pay, is dearer than it was.