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A shilling might, in the one case, represent no more labour than

a penny does at present; and a penny, in the other, might

represent as much as a shilling does now. But in the one case, he

who had a shilling in his pocket would be no richer than he who

has a penny at present; and in the other, he who had a penny

would be just as rich as he who has a shilling now. The cheapness

and abundance of gold and silver plate would be the sole

advantage which the world could derive from the one event; and

the dearness and scarcity of those trifling superfluities, the

only inconveniency it could suffer from the other.

Conclusion of the Digression concerning the Variations in the

Value of Silver.