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to avoid being fallen upon for those debts also, as some may imagine.

It is certain, as I formerly noted, rumour will break a tradesman, almost at any time; it matters not, at first, whether the rumour be true or false. What rumour can sit closer to a man in business, his own personal misfortunes excepted, than such as this, That his partner is broke? That his partner has met with a loss, suppose an insurance, suppose a bubble or cheat, or we know not what, the partner is sunk; no man knows whether the partnership be concerned in it, or no; and while it is not known, every man will suppose it; for mankind always think the worst of everything.

What can be a closer stroke at the poor tradesman? He knows not what his partner has done; he has reason to fear the worst; he even knows not himself, for awhile, whether he can steer clear of the rocks, or no; but soon recovers, knows his own circumstances, and struggles hard with the world, pays out his partner's stock, and gets happily over it. And it is well he does so; for where one stands and keeps up his reputation and his business in such a case, there are twenty would be undone.

Who then would run the venture of a partner if it were possible to avoid it? and who, if they must have a partner, would have one that was concerned in separate business, in which the partnership was not engaged?

2. If you must have a partner, always choose one rather under than over you; by this I mean, take him for a fifth, a fourth, or at most a third; never for a half. There are many reasons to be given for this, besides that of having the greater share of profits; but the principal reasons are these; first, in case of any disaster, in any of the particular supposed accidents which

I have mentioned, and that you should be obliged to pay out your partner's stock, it will not be so heavy, or be so much a blow to you; and, secondly, you preserve to yourself the governing influence in your own business; you cannot be overruled, overawed, or dogmatically told, It shall, or shall not, be thus or thus. He that takes in a partner for a third, has a partner servant; he that takes him for a half, has a partner master, or director. Let your partner have always a lesser interest in the business than yourself, and be rather less acquainted with the business than yourself, at least not better; you should rather have a partner to be instructed, than a partner to instruct you; for he that teaches you, will always taunt you.

3. If you must have a partner, let him always be your junior, rather than your senior in the business, whether he is so in years or not. There are many reasons why the tradesman should choose this, and particularly the same as in the former case; that is to say, to maintain the superiority of the business in his own hands: and this I mention, not at all upon account of the pride or vanity of the superiority, for that is a trifle compared to the rest, but that he may have the more authority to inspect the conduct of his partner, in which he is so much and so essentially concerned, and to inquire whether he is doing anything, or taking any measures, dangerous or prejudical to the stock, or to the credit of the partnership; that so, if he finds anything, he may restrain him and prevent in time the mischief which would otherwise be inevitable to them both.

There are many other advantages to a tradesman who is obliged to take a partner, by keeping in his own hands the major part of the trade, which are too long to repeat here; such as his being always

able to put a check to any rash adventure, any launching into bubbles and projects, and things dangerous to the business; and this is a very needful thing in a partnership, that one should be able to correct the rash resolves of another in hazardous cases.

By this correcting of rash measures, I mean overruling them with moderation and temper, for the good of the whole, and for their mutual advantage. The Romans had frequently two generals, or consuls, to command their armies in the field; one of which was to be a young man, that, by his vigour and sprightly forwardness, he might keep up the spirits and courage of the soldiers, encourage them to fight, and lead them on by his example; the other an old soldier, that, by his experience in the military affairs, age, and counsels, he might a little abate the fire of his colleague, and might not only know how, but when to fight; and the want of this lost them many a victory, and the great battle of Cannæ in particular, in which eighty thousand Romans were killed in one day.

To compare small things with great, I may say, it is just so in the affair of trade; you should always join a sober grave head, weighed to business, and acquainted with trade, to the young trader, who will the easier give up his judgment, and be governed by the solid experience of the other.

Again; if you must go into partnership, be sure, if possible, you take nobody into partnership but such as whose circumstances in trade you are fully acquainted with; such there are frequently to be had among relations and neighbours; and such, if possible, should be the man that is taken into partnership, that the hazard of unsound circumstances may be avoided; a man may else be taken into partnership who may be really bankrupt, even be

fore you take him in; and such things have been done, to the ruin of many a honest tradesman.

If possible, let your partner be a beginner, that his stock may be reasonably supposed to be free and unentangled; and let him be one that you know personally, and his circumstances, and did know even before you had any thoughts of engaging together.

All these cautions are with a supposition that a partner must be had; but I must still give it as my opinion, in the case of such tradesmen as I have all along directed myself to, that, if possible, they should go on single handed in trade; and I close it with this brief note, respecting the qualifications of a partner, as above, that,

Next to no partner, such a partner is best.

CHAP. XIX.

Of honesty and veracity in dealing. In what cases a little latitude seems allowable to a tradesman ; which even the buyers make necessary. How much to be wished that all falsehoods could be avoided in trade. Of breaking promises of payment. Arguments with relation to the morality of this. Custom has seemed to lessen the crime in breaking through those sort of promises. The cases distinguished where the breach is excusable, and where not. Best to be as little positive in a promise as possible.

THERE is a specific difference between honesty and knavery, which can never be altered by trade, or any other thing; nor can that integrity of mind

C. E. T. I.

N

which describes, and is peculiar to, a man of honesty, be ever abated to a tradesman; the rectitude of his soul must be the same; and he must not only intend or mean honestly and justly, but he must act so, and that in all his dealings; he must neither cheat nor defraud, overreach nor circumvent, his neighbour, or anybody he deals with; nor must he design to do so, or lay any plots or snares to that purpose in his dealing; as is frequent in the general conduct of too many, who yet would take it very ill to have any one tax their integrity.

But, after all this is premised, there are some latitudes which a tradesman is and must be allowed, and which, by the custom and usage of trade, he may give himself a liberty in, which cannot be allowed in other cases; some of which are,

1. The liberty of asking more than he will take. I know some people have condemned this practice as dishonest and the quakers, for a time, strictly stood to their point in the contrary practice, resolving to ask no more than they would take, upon any occasion whatsoever, and choosing rather to lose the selling of their goods, though they could afford sometimes to take what was offered, rather than abate a farthing of the price they had asked; but time, and the necessities of trade, have brought them a good deal off of that severity; and they by degrees came to ask, and abate, just as other honest tradesmen do, though not perhaps as those do who give themselves too great a liberty that

way.

Indeed it is the buyers that make this custom necessary; for they, especially those who buy for immediate use, will first pretend positively to tie themselves up to a limited price, and bid them a little and a little more, till they come so near the price, that the sellers cannot find in their hearts to

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