Epstein, Mordecai: The English Levant Company: its foundation and its history to 1640 (London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd, 1908)

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THE EARLY HISTORY OF

the whole stock brought in by these inter-
lopers should be sent back to the places they
came from. In the same year 3 the company
had to deal with a similar case which ended
somewhat differently. A certain Mr. Flower
who was a member of the Company of Merchant
Adventurers brought a quantity of currants
into the port of London. This was clearly a
breach of the company’s rights and the com-
pany resolved that the currants of Flower
should be sent back to where they had come
from. But Mr. Flower came to a Meeting of
the Court and asserted that he was fully with-
in his rights, since he was a member of the
3 Cs. Min. November 28, 1617 ; December 11, 1617,
and December 17, 1617. The price of currants in Feb-
ruary of this year, it is interesting to note, was 43
shillings and 4 pence per hundredweight. Cf. Min.
February 14, 1617. Three months later it had gone
down and new currants cost 43 shillings a hundred-
weight, while old currants were at 40 shillings. See
Min. May 17, 1617.
It is curious to note that payment for currants at
this time (and presumably generally) was made, half
the money at once for new currants and the rest in
two portions at intervals of three months. For old
currants, however, the traders paid half of the money
down, and the rest in two portions at intervals of four
months.