Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853 | Page 4

sweeping assertion a very
interesting and well-written account of works on this subject, entitled
"A Sketch of that Branch of Literature called Books of Emblems, as it
flourished during the 16th and 17th centuries, by Joseph Brooks Yates,
Esq., F.S.A.," of West Dingle, near Liverpool, the friend of Roscoe,
and the worthy and intelligent President of the Literary and
Philosophical Society of Liverpool, read at their meetings, and of
which two parts have already been printed in their volumes of
Proceedings. This "Sketch" only requires to be enlarged and completed,
with specimens added of the different styles of the engravings, to
render it everything that is to be desired on the subject.]
[Footnote 2: Perhaps this, and the works of Colman and Heywood, are
scarcely to be considered as Books of Emblems.]
* * * * *
AUTHOR OF TRACT ON "ADVANTAGES OF THE EAST INDIA
TRADE, 1720, 8vo."
Of this pamphlet, originally published in 1701, 8vo., under the title of
Considerations upon the East India Trade, and afterwards in 1720,

8vo., with a new title-page, The Advantages of the East India Trade to
England considered, containing {472} 128 pages, inclusive of Preface,
the author never yet been ascertained.
Mr. M^cCulloch accords to it, and very deservedly, the highest praise.
He styles it (Literature of Political Economy, p. 100.) "a profound, able,
and most ingenious tract;" and observes that he has "set the powerful
influence of the division of labour in the most striking point of view,
and has illustrated it with a skill and felicity which even Smith has not
surpassed, but by which he most probably profited." Addison's
admirable paper in The Spectator (No. 69.) on the advantages of
commerce, is only an expansion of some of the paragraphs in this
pamphlet. In some parts I think he has scarcely equalled the force of his
original. Take, for instance, the following sentences, which admit of
fair comparison:
"We taste the spices of Arabia, yet never feel the scorching sun which
brings them forth; we shine in silks which our hands have never
wrought; we drink of vineyards which we never planted; the treasures
of those mines are ours which we have never digged; we only plough
the deep, and reap the harvest of every country in the
world."--Advantages of East India Trade, p. 59.
"Whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north and south, we are
free from those extremities of weather which give them birth; our eyes
are refreshed with the green fields of Britain, at the same time that our
palates are feasted with fruits that rise between the tropics."--Spectator,
No. 69.
Mr. M^cCulloch makes no conjecture as to the probable author of this
very able tract; but it appears to me that it may on good grounds be
ascribed to Henry Martyn, who afterwards--not certainly in accordance
with the enlightened principles he lays down in this pamphlet--took an
active part in opposing the treaty of commerce with France, and was
rewarded by the appointment of Inspector-General of the exports and
imports of the customs. (See an account of him in Ward's Lives of
Gresham Professors, p. 332.) He was a contributor to The Spectator,
and Nos. 180. 200. and 232. have been attributed to him; and the matter

of Sir Andrew Freeport's speculations appears to have been furnished
by him as Addison and Steele's oracle on trade and commerce. It will
be seen that in No. 232. he makes exactly the same use of Sir William
Petty's example of the watch as is done in the tract (p.69.), and the
coincidence seems to point out one common author of both
compositions. But, without placing too much stress on this similarity, I
find, that Collins's Catalogue, which was compiled with great care, and
where it mentions the authors of anonymous works may always be
relied upon, attributes this tract to Martyn (Collins's Cat. 1730-1, 8vo.,
Part I.,
No. 3130.). I have a copy of the edition of 1701, in the original binding
and lettering--lettered "Martyn on the East India Trade "--and copies of
the edition of 1720 in two separate collections of tracts; one of which
belonged to A. Chamier, and the other to George Chalmers; in both of
which the name of Martyn is written as its author on the title-page, and
in the latter in Chalmers's handwriting. I think therefore we may
conclude that this tract, which well deserves being more generally
known than it is at present, was written by Henry Martyn.
JAS. CROSSLEY.
* * * * *
"AKE" AND ACHE.
John Kemble, it is well known, maintained that the latter was the mode
of pronouncing this word in Shakspeare's days. He was right, and he
was wrong; for, as I shall show, both modes prevailed, at least in poetry,
till the end