The merchants map of commerce wherein the universal manner and matter relating to trade and merchandize are fully treated of, the standard and current coins of most princes and republicks observ'd, the real and imaginary coins of accounts and exchanges express'd, the natural products and artificial commodities and manufactures for transportation declar'd, the weights and measures of all eminent cities and towns of traffick in the universe, collected one into another, and all reduc'd to the meridian of commerce practis'd in the famous city of London / by Lewis Roberts, merchant.

Bill must not be paid before due.

IF a Bill of Exchange be made payable at usance, double usance, thirty days sight, or at any longer or shorter time, and when the Bill shall be presented to the Party on whom it is drawn to be accepted, or at any time before the Bill is due, he to whom it is payable shall desire to have the Mony presently paid him (by way of anticipati∣on) before it be due by the tenour of the Bill, and thereupon shall offer to rebate for the time: Or if the Party to whom the said Bill is directed, having some Monies by him, and willing to make some Profit thereof, shall of his own accord offer him to whom it is made payable to pay him the

Mony presently before the time limited in the Bill of Exchange be expir'd, in case he will discount for it, or allow him some consideration for the time; the Party who shall so pay Mony upon any Bill of Exchange before it be due, runs in some danger in not observing Order: Indeed he to whom it is payable, and who does receive the same, is in no danger at all by receiving the Mo∣ny before it be due, but let him beware that so pays it; for if the Mony or Parcel which is remitted be really and properly belonging to the Party which deliver'd the same by Exchange to the subscribed of the Bill, and if the Bill be made payable to a Factor, Servant, Agent, or Friend of the Deliverer's, only to and for the Deliverer's use; and if, before the Bill is due, the De∣liverer do send his Countermand (as he may do) not to pay the Mony to such his Factor, Servant, Agent or Friend to whom it was payable by the tenour of the Bill but to some other whom he shall appoint: In this case he on whom the Bill is drawn ought to be liable to the Payment thereof according to that Countermand, to the Party who shall be thereupon so appointed; for as it is not properly in his power, (I mean in the power of the Party on whom the Bill is drawn) to prolong the time of Payment, so as that he may chuse if he will pay the Mony at the time limited in the Bill, or make the Party to whom it was payable to carry any longer for it; nei∣ther can that Party to whom the Bill is pay∣able (in the case before mention'd) war∣rantably shorten the time limited and ap∣pointed in the Bill, or agree with the Party on whom it is drawn to pay him the Mony before it be due, for the bargain is made between the Deliverer and the Taker, and respect ought to be had thereunto; and al∣tho this case of countermand doth not or∣dinarily and commonly happen, yet it may happen, and I have known it come to pass, and who can certainly assure himself that the same will not befal him in his Payment of Monies on any Bill of Exchange before it be due? For my part the Advice which I desire to give herein is such as may be for the Security of him that parts with his Mo∣ny, that he may do it upon good grounds, and so may be warrantably discharged, but that he cannot well be in breaking Order, wherefore I shall never advise any to pay Mony on Bills of Exchange before they be due.