Shoemaker-Levy 9 (atthetop)

I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old, is no salable commodity, and even when they come to this age, they will not yield above three pounds, or three pounds and half a crown at most, on the exchange; which cannot turn to account either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of nutriments and rags having been at least four times that value.