First published in 1962. This volume is a collection of the papers from the Mercantile College that preserved as examples of the ''accounts of many distinguished and eminent merchants deceased ... who trod the Royal Exchange with supreme credit and dignity''. They bring together the commercial pride which was reached in the eighteenth century, before the challenge of industry and an economic interpretation based on its predominance brought its sobering influence to bear on ''the great mercantile classes of England''.