INTRODUCTION

то

TRADE and

BUSINESS.

CONTAINING

I. Tables of the most ufual Clerklike Contractions of Words; with proper Directions how to addrefs Perfons of Elevated Rank, and thofe in Office.

II. Acquittances and Promiffory Notes diverfified, and adapted to fuch Circumftances as occur in Real Business.

III. Variety of Bills of Parcels,

and Bills on Book - Debts, to enter the Learner in the Manner and Methods of Commerce, and to make him ready at Computation.

IV. Bills of Exchange, with neceffary Directions for the right

By M. CLARE, late Master of the ACADEMY, in SoHo SQUARE, LONDON.

·

The NINTH EDITION,

Revised and Improved, with the Addition of an APPENDIX, containing, The Methods of SOLVING All the Intricate Questions. By BENJAMIN WEB B,

Writing - Mafter and Accountant, and Mafter of the Grammar School belonging to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in Bunhill-row; Author of the TABLES for Buying and Selling STOCKS, and of the COMPLETE ANNUITANT.

LONDON:

Printed for B. DoD and Co. J. RIVINGTON, G. KEITH,
R. BALDWIN, L. HAWES and W. CLARKE and R. COLLINS,
J. FULLER, and M. RICHARDSON.

MDCC LXIV.

то

Mafter GEORGE ONSLOW,

ONLY SON OF

The Right Hon. ARTHUR ONSLOW, Efqs

SPEAKER of the Honourable House of COMMONS.

DEAR SIR!

FROM the large Experience I have had of your excellent Capacity, and your amiable Difpofition, I have pregnant Hopes of your becoming one Day a confiderable, that is, a wife, a good, and a ufeful Man.

FROM this Expectation it is, that I am ambitious of presenting you this Edition of a fmall Work, which I have the Pleasure to imagine will be of Service to You, Sir, when you come to dip into NUMBERS; a Qualification equal, if not fuperior in Value, to moft we learn befides.

YOUR Worthy Father fits, where he has been long a Witness of the Advantage, with which the Calculift and Accomptant are always heard. And no Wonder; fince Arguments, drawn from Arithmetical Computations, carry with them uncommon Weight, having their Foundation in Reason and in Truth.

I am, DEAR SIR,

Your most Affectionate, and
Moft Obliged, Humble Servant,

SOHO-SQUARE,
Jan. 1, 1739.

Martin Clare,

THE

PREFACE.

I

N the Commerce of the World, Dispatch in Bufinefs is no ordinary Accomplishment; which being the Refult of a well-directed Education, it cannot be amifs in a Treatise of this Nature, to touch on those Parts of it, which are more immediately neceflary for forming the Man of Bufinefs.

After the Youth's firft Years have been employed in READING his native Language, and proper Care has been taken to explain and inform him of the Meaning and Force of Words as they prefent; the next Step is to initiate him in the Rudiments of GRAMMAR: In which, at first, nothing is more material, than to be very particular in the regular-Divifion and Formation of Syllables. While this is doing, it is necflary for him to learn to WRITE; in which, the Teacher will find fufficient Reafon to exercife his Vigilance, and to guard against the ill Habits his Charge will be apt to contract, both in Pofture and Performance.

It is not my Defign to defcribe at large what Part of Grammar-learning is moft neceflary for this End, nor to trace out the Methods by which it is to be effected; those must be left to the Skill and Discretion of his Inftructor: I fhall, therefore, only recommend two Things, not generally made use of.

I. If the Scholar be enjoined to copy all his Exercifes, after Correction, into a fair Book, it will not only point out to him his Mistakes, and inform him how to mend them, but will even infenfibly improve his Hand, and fix it in a bold and manly Character.

II. As the principal End of inftructing a Youth, defigned for Bufinefs, in the Latin Tongue, is to make him a greater Master of his own; the Way to apply, and render it moft effectual to that End, is to use him frequently to English Tranflations. The Meaning and Senfe of his Authors will thereby be impreffed on his Mind, with greater Advantage, and in Time, he will acquire a clear, just and natural Manner of expreffing his Thoughts, on all Occafions; to which, if the Reading of good Authors in our own Language be added, a due Proficiency may be expected, not only in Spelling and

Propriety

Propriety of Stile, but alfo in that Elegance and good Senfe,
which diftinguish one Man from another, and are abfolutely
requifite for all, that hope to be confiderable in the World.

As the FRENCH TONGUE is, at prefent, the general
Language of Europe, and confequently moft proper for Cor-
refpondence, it ought to be recommended to the Learner,
among his Grammar Studies, when his Parts will admit of fo
great a Variety; but not before he is fufficiently grounded in
the Latin, from whence the French is chiefly derived.

WRITING muft always be regarded as an effential Part of
every Day's Employment; becaufe the free and Clerk-like
Manner of Writing, fit for the dextrous Difpatch of Business,
is not attainable by fpeculative Notions, or on a fudden, but
by Practice gradually, under the Direction of an able Mafter;
nor can any other Means be depended on, to make the Hand
eafy, bold, and masterly.

ARITHMETIC now must be entered upon; in teaching
which Art, the enfuing Treatife will be of fome Advantage:
The Bills of Parcels and thofe on Book-Debts, are fuch Ex-
amples of Computation, as daily occur in Commerce, and
which are of ufe to illuftrate the practical Rules, and apply
them to Bufinefs. The Variety of Promiffory Notes, Acquit-
tances, Bills of Exchange, with Directions relating to them,
and Things of like Nature, are all intended to give the young
Clerk a Tafte and Idea of the Cuftoms and Ufages of Dealers,
and to obviate the Difficulties he would otherwife meet with,
through his not being acquainted with Things of that general
Concern in Traffic.

Tranfcribing and computing the Invoyces and other mer-
cantile Precedents, will yield him a no lefs profitable Exercise,
and conduce in fome Measure, to the Understanding the Prac-
tice of BOOK-KEEPING; a Science fo univerfally useful,
that, without keeping regular Accompts, the Trader risks the
facrificing an improvable Fortune, to Negligence and Chance ;
the Man of Eftate is thereby made fubject to frequent Impo-
fitions, always to Uncertainties; and the Man in Office is
likewife exposed to numberless Perplexities; and, indeed,
none can properly be faid to be a Judge of Business, whose
Abilities, how confiderable foever, are not affifted by fome
Infight and Skill therein.

The