[tear in page] Decr 1801

Maximum

Beginning

Defence of a Maximum

In introducing these pages to the notice of the Reader the first thing to be

done is to shut the door against any such misconceptions as might be apt to

arise out of the title page.

In speaking of a Maximum as a defensible measure all I mean to contend for is –

that a price might be found – which though {with or without variation grounded

in local circumstances} inferior in no small degree to the highest prices that

have been known to be given and demanded and given in some instances – might be

fixed upon /marked out/ as the highest that should be suffered to be taken, by a

fixation which would be productive of some relief without any such

disadvantageous effects as would overbalance the advantage.

In the eventual recommendation thus given in favour of a maximum measure of this

kind I do not mean it as a means of ensuring an habitual middling price, much

less habitual cheapness. It will not create land: it will not annihilate money:

it will neither create nor unfetter land, nor unfetter it.