bmitted usurers to the ordeal.

But arguments of this sort had little influence upon Elizabeth and her
statesmen. Threats of damnation in the next world troubled them little
if they could have their way in this. They re-established the practice
of taking interest under restrictions, and this, in various forms,
has remained in England ever since. Most notable in this phase of the
evolution of scientific doctrine in political economy at that period
is the emergence of a recognised difference between USURY and
INTEREST. Between these two words, which had so long been synonymous,
a distinction now appears: the former being construed to indicate
OPPRESSIVE INTEREST, and the latter JUST RATES for the use of money.
This idea gradually sank into the popular mind of Protestant countries,
and the scriptural texts no longer presented any difficulty to the
people at large, since there grew up a general belief that the word
"usury," as employed in Scripture, had ALWAYS meant exorbitant interest;
and this in spite of the parable of the Talents. Still, that the old
Aristotelian quibble had not been entirely forgotten, is clearly seen by
various passages in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. But this line of
reasoning seems to have received its quietus from Lord Bacon. He did
not, indeed, develop a strong and connected argument on the subject;
but he burst the bonds of Aristotle, and based interest for money upon
natural laws. How powerful the new current of thought was, is seen
from the fact that James I, of all monarchs the most fettered by
scholasticism and theology, sanctioned a statute dealing with interest
for money as absolutely necessary. Yet, even after this, the old idea
asserted itself; for the bishops utterly refused to agree to the law
allowing interest until a proviso was inserted that "nothing in this law
contained shall be construed or expounded to allow the practice of usury
in point of religion or conscience." The old view cropped out from time
to time in various public declarations. Famous among these were the
Treatise of Usury, published in 1612 by Dr. Fenton, who restated the
old arguments with much force, and the Usury Condemned of John Blaxton,
published in 1634. Blaxton, who also was a clergyman, defined usury as
the taking of any interest whatever for money, citing in support of this
view six archbishops and bishops and over thirty doctors of divinity in
the Anglican Church, some of their utterances being very vi