y wages rose slowly, far less than
the cost of living.

[Sidenote: Increase in volume of precious metals]

Apart from special circumstances affecting the production of particular
classes of goods, the main cause of the general trend of prices upwards
was probably the increase in the volume of the precious metals. Just
how great this was, it is impossible to determine, and yet a
calculation can be made, yielding figures near enough the actual to be
of service. From the middle of the fifteenth century there had been a
considerable increase in the production of silver from German, Bohemian
and Hungarian mines. Although this {474} increase was much more than
is usually allowed for--equalling, in the opinion of one scholar, the
produce of American mines until nearly the middle of the sixteenth
century--it was only enough to meet the expanding demands of commerce.
Before America entered the market, there was also a considerable import
of gold from Asia and Africa. The tide of Mexican treasure began to
flood Spain about 1520, but did not reach the other countries in large
quantities until about 1560. When we consider the general impression
concerning the increase of the currency immediately following the
pillage of the Aztecs and Incas, the following statistics of the
English mint are instructive, if they are not enigmatical. During the
first fourteen years of Henry VIII (1509-23) the average amount of gold
minted in England was 24,666 troy pounds per annum, and of silver
31,225 troy pounds. But in the years 1537-40, before the great
debasement of the currency had taken place, the amount of gold coined
fell to 3,297 Troy pounds per annum, and that of silver rose only to
52,974 troy pounds. As each pound of gold was at that time worth as
much as eleven pounds of silver, this means that the actual amount of
new money put into circulation each year in the latter period was less
than a third of that minted in the earlier years. The figures also
indicate the growing cheapness of silver, stimulating its import, while
the import of gold was greatly restricted, according to Gresham's law
that cheap money drives out dear.

[Sidenote: Estimates of gold and silver products]

The spoil of Mexico and Peru has frequently been over-estimated, by
none more extravagantly than by the Conquistadores and their
contemporaries. But the estimates of modern scholars vary enormously.
Lexis believes that the total amount of gold produced