CONCERNING ANCIENT INDIA. 173

cargo of spices in the places where they grew,and could afford to dispose of them at such aprice, that, from being an expensive luxury, theybecame an article of such general use , as greatlyaugmented the demand for them. An effect similarto this may be observed , with respect to thedemand for other commodities imported fromIndia, upon the reduction of their price by thePortuguese. From that period a growing taste forAsiatic luxuries may be traced in every countryof Europe, and the number of strips fitted out forthat trade at Lisbon, continued to increase everyyear 7 .

V. Lucrative as the trade with India was, andhad long been deemed, it is remarkable that thePortuguese were suffered to remain in the undis-turbed and exclusive possession of it, during thecourse of almost a century. In the ancient world,though Alexandria, from the peculiar felicity ofits situation , could carry on an intercourse withthe East by sea , and circulate its productionsthrough Europe with such advantage, as gave ita decided superiority over every rival; yet variousattempts (which I have described in their properplaces) were made, from time to time, to obtainsome share in a commerce so apparently beneficial.From the growing activity of the commercialspirit in the sixteenth century, as well as fromthe example of the eager solicitude with whichthe Venetians and Genoese exerted themselves

E C T.IV.

7

.See NOTE LV.