SOURCE: The Saturday Magazine, No. 117. Supplement, April, 1834
On the nature and extent of the British commerce in the fourteenth century, a gleam of light is thrown by a record of the exports and imports in the twenty-eighth year of Edward the Third (1355), from which it appears, that the former consisted of wool, coarse cloths, and leather, which were valued at 294,184l. 17s. 2d. including a custom-duty of 215l. 13s. 7d. The imports comprised fine cloths, linen, mercery, wine, wax, and groceries, of the trifling value of 38,970l. 3s. 6d., including a custom-duty of 285l. Edward the Third, perceiving the real cause of the prosperity and opulence of Flanders, made various efforts during his reign, to excite a commercial spirit amongst his subjects, but in despite of his endeavours, navigation and industry continued to slumber; and it was not until the reign of Henry the Seventh, nearly a century and a half after, that the advantages arising from our extent of coast and abundance of fuel began to be brought into profitable operation in England.
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