ABSTRACT
That which hath been the bane of almost all trades is the too great number of Shopkeepers in this Kingdom . . . because the Shopkeeping trade is an easy life and thence many are induced to run into it and there hath been no law to prevent it, which maketh very many (like a Mighty Torrent) to fall into it, which hath been verified for several years past by the many Husbandmen, Labourers and Artificers who have left off their working trades and turned Shopkeepers.
