THE

PRACTICA

COUNTING HOUSE:

O R,

Calculation and Accountantp

ILLUSTRATED,

In all the Cafes that can occur in Trade, DOMESTIC or FOREIGN,

PROPER OF COMPANY;

In Buying, Selling, Drawing, Remitting, Exporting, Importing,

Factorage, Brokerage, Infurance, Exchange, &c.

To which is added,

AN APPENDIX,

Containing Precedents of Writing, English and Scots, proper for

every regular Counting houfe;

AND

A BOOK OF RATES,

Exhibiting, at one view, the DUTY and DRAWBACK upon every Commo-

dity the British Merchant Exports or Imports, with a Summary of the Laws

Refpecting the fame.

B. Y

JAMES SCRUTO N,

OF THE ACADEMY IN GLASGOW,

Author of the Mercantile Penmanship.

GLASGO w

PRINTED FOR JAMES DUNCAN, BOOKSELLER,

OPPOSITE TO THE MAIN GUARD,

M.DCC.LXXVII.

12/6.

1

TO

JOHN GLASFORD ES Q

OF DOUGALSTON,

MERCHANT IN GLASGOW,

IN TESTIMONY OF THAT RESPECT

WHICH IS DUE TO HIM AS A WORTHY CITIZEN,

AND

A GENEROUS ENCOURAGER

OF

WHATEVER TENDS TO PROMOTE THE INTEREST OF SOCIETY;

THE

PRACTICAL COUNTING-HOUSE,

BY HIS KIND PERMISSION,

IS,

WITH GREAT SUBMISSION AND REGARD,

DEDICATED

BY

HIS MOST OBEDIENT,

MUCH OBLIGED,

AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT,

J. SCRUTON..

ACADEMY, GLASGOW,

OCT. 4th, 1777,

HF 5631 543

ΤΟ ΤΗΕ

PUBLIC.

'HE advantage of commerce to these king

THE

doms, and the importance of regular accounts, in every concern whatever, from the revenue to the loweft office, is fo well understood, that to offer reafons for publishing the following treatise would be meer affectation; every improvement, in any art or science, effential to the community, must undoubtedly be at all times acceptable.

One point in view, in the following treatise, was to keep it within proper bounds, fo as it might not be fwelled with matters of little importance, nor be deficient in any thing which might reasonably be thought material. Some books which I have feen, have been stuffed with fpecimens for shop-keepers, ftore-keepers, chamberlains, &c. which, in my opinion, can serve no other purpose than to raise the price, and render the book more voluminous: For it is hardly to be imagined, that a man who hath been instructed in book-keeping, upon an extensive