ook one at last which was too strong for him, and it closed
upon his fingers, and held him till the wild beasts came and devoured
him. Though the story is a fable, the moral is good to my present
purpose, and is not at all above my subject; I mean that of a tradesman,
who should be warned against over-trading, as earnestly, and with as
much passion, as I would warn a dealer in gunpowder to be wary of fire,
or a distiller or rectifier of spirits to moderate his furnace, lest the
heads of his stills fly off, and he should be scalded to death.

For a young tradesman to over-trade himself, is like a young swimmer
going out of his depth, when, if help does not come immediately, it is a
thousand to one but he sinks, and is drowned. All rash adventures are
condemned by the prudent part of mankind; but it is as hard to restrain
youth in trade, as it is in any other thing, where the advantage stands
in view, and the danger out of sight; the profits of trade are baits to
the avaricious shopkeeper, and he is forward to reckon them up to
himself, but does not perhaps cast up the difficulty which there may be
to compass it, or the unhappy consequences of a miscarriage.

For want of this consideration, the tradesman oftentimes drowns, as I
may call it, even within his depth--that is, he sinks when he has really
the substance at bottom to keep him up--and this is all owing to an
adventurous bold spirit in trade, joined with too great a gust of gain.
Avarice is the ruin of many people besides tradesmen; and I might give
the late South Sea calamity for an example in which the longest heads
were most overreached, not so much by the wit or cunning of those they
had to deal with as by the secret promptings of their own avarice;
wherein they abundantly verified an old proverbial speech or saying,
namely, 'All covet, all lose;' so it was there indeed, and the
cunningest, wisest, sharpest, men lost the most money.

There are two things which may be properly called over-trading, in a
young beginner; and by both which tradesmen are often overthrown.

1. Trading beyond their stock.

2. Giving too large credit.

A tradesman ought to consider and measure well the extent of his own
strengh; his stock of money, and credit, is properly his beginning; for
credit is a stock as well as money. He that takes too much credit is
really in as much danger as he that gives too much credit; and the
danger lies particularly in this, if the tradesman over-bu