Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/372

352 theorists, three centuries before their time, distracted him with their tempting speculations. 'Why should money cause the dearth?' men said. 'Why should it not be taken as it is proclaimed?' 'What if it were copper? what if it were lead? what if it were leather? Is it not all one, seeing it is for none other use but exchange?' 'If money was plenty, all things would be plenty; the greater abundance of money, the greater the abundance of everything. Three parts of the realm out of four were the better for the multiplication.'

Among the causes of the general distress, the facility with which Somerset allowed himself to be persuaded against his better judgment by arguments such as these, must hold a considerable place; yet, after all